Staff Reporter :
At least 29 people allegedly involved with Secondary School Certificate (SSC) examinations’ question paper leakage have been arrested from Dhaka, Mymensingh, Naogaon and Sherpur districts.
The Detective Branch of Police and the National Security Intelligence personnel arrested them during drives from Saturday night.
The law enforcers recovered one laptop, 23 smart phones and Tk 2 lakh cash from their procession.
The arrestees distributed the question papers in exchange for Tk 500-2000 using social media and mobile communication platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and IMO, the detective sources said.
The arrestees confessed their link to question paper leakage using different social networking sites and OTT apps during preliminary interrogation.
Abdul Baten, Joint Commissioner of Detective Branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, at a press briefing said, “It is hardly possible for the examinees to get benefit from the question paper leakage as the real question papers are leaked just 30 to 40 minutes before the examination starts from the exam centres.”
The arrestees have been identified as Md Rahat Islam, Md Salahuddin, Md Sujon, Md Zahid Hossain, Sufal Roy alias Shaon, Al Amin, Saidul Islam, Abir Islam Noman, Shahadat Hossain alias Swapon, Fahim Islam, Tahsib Rahman, three brothers Aman Ullah, Barkat Ullah, and Ahsanullah. They were arrested from different parts of the Dhaka city. Ahsanullah is a student of Sirajul Islam Medical College.
In another drive, DB personnel arrested eight persons, including five guardians and three SSC examinees, on charge of question paper leakage early yesterday from different parts of Mymensingh division.
The detainees are Israt Jahan, 25, Ariful Islam, 18, Rakib Mia, 18, Rafiqul Islam, 20, Khairul Islam, 16, Zakaria, 16, Fazle Rabbi Rumi, 16 and Sourav Barman, 16, from three centres of Mymensingh,” Officer-in-Charge Ashikur Rahman of Mymensingh district DB told newsmen.
During the drives conducted in different parts of Naogaon, the NSI personnel arrested seven persons, including two teachers early Sunday.
The arrestees are Al Mamun, 29, Zahid Hasan Iman, 16, Mortuza Ahmed Hadi, 16, Provat Kumar Mohonto, 16, Anwar Hossain, 30, Zohirul Islam, 16, and Israfil Alam, 16.
At least 30 people, including teachers and examinees’ relatives, have been detained or arrested so far in connection with the question leakage in different parts of the country.
Meanwhile, the detectives suggested turning off the mobile phones of those who are involved in handling question papers right before examinations start.
The list will include people from peons to upper-level officials.
Abdul Baten said, in Dhaka someone takes a snapshot of the question paper when it reaches the examination centres from deputy commissioner’s office on the day of the examination.
These people then spread and distribute the snapshots 35-40 minutes before the start of the day’s examination, he said.
Police are yet to identify the perpetrators, the police official said.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid had earlier accused “dishonest teachers” of taking photos of question papers and leaking them but on Saturday the SSC Mathematics questions were leaked at a time when the scripts did not even reach the examination centres.
Images of handwritten questions circulating social media sites and messenger groups made it clear that there were other actors involved in it.
Amid widespread criticism about the SSC question paper leakage, the Education Ministry is on hard line to check the leakage. In the meantime, the ministry has taken many initiatives in this regard.
Secretary (Secondary and Higher Education Division) of Education Ministry Sohrab Hossain said, “We will check the question paper leakage at any cost. We are changing our strategy every day to nab the perpetrators of the question papers leakage. I think everyone involved in the leakage will be arrested soon.”
Following the Education Ministry’s direction the telecom operators stalled internet connections for over an hour before the SSC examination on information and communication technology started on Sunday.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission conducted the operation to prevent question leaks in the board exams, a BTRC official said.
The SSC and its equivalent examinations started on February 1. The three-hour examinations start at 10:00am.
Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid said he would urge regulators to block Facebook for a certain period after reports of question leaks surfaced over the past few days.
An official of a telecom company said BTRC had issued a letter calling on them to snap the connections at 9:00am but it was 9:30am when they were finally able to oblige due to technical glitches.
Mobile data traffic dropped across the country for an hour, said Suman Ahmed Sabir, Chief Strategy Officer of International Internet Gateway Fibre@Home.
However, the services of internet providers or ISPs remained unharmed, said MA Hakim, President of Internet Service Providers Association Bangladesh.
