Locked Phone Stalls Drug Ring Probe Into Tisha, Safa, and Toya
Mumtaheena Toya, Tanjin Tisha, and Safa Kabir. Photo: Collected.
Twenty months ago, actresses Tanzin Tisha, Safa Kabir, Toya, and Sunidhi came under scrutiny over allegations of involvement in drug trafficking. On 17 October 2024, Arindam Roy was arrested from Dhaka airport. During the investigation of the case filed against him at Paltan Model Police Station, the actresses' names surfaced in connection with the drug scandal.
However, because the seized mobile phones were "locked," forensic tests found no evidence of their involvement in the drug ring. As a result, the Department of Narcotics Control has submitted a charge sheet to the court implicating only the sole accused, Arindam. On 14 May, the investigating officer and Inspector of the Department of Narcotics Control, Md. Ahsan Habib, submitted the charge sheet to the court.
Regarding this, investigating officer Ahsan Habib told Agamir Somoy that the CID forensic report found no proof of any actress's involvement in the drug case. Moreover, the accused himself did not give a confessional statement. Based on the evidence obtained, they submitted the charge sheet to the court. The 13 witnesses listed in the charge sheet will prove the case's merit.
If the model was involvement or not with the drug ring, the charge sheet said that the accused Arindam was taken into police custody (remand) through a court order and intensively interrogated. During interrogation, he provided important information about which drugs were being used among the elite and upper-class youth in Bangladesh, and who was bringing them into the country and marketing them. He created various WhatsApp groups and Snapchat groups and later sold and supplied drugs through these groups via the drug ring. He cited to police involvement of models and actresses Tanzin Tisha, Safa Kabir, Toya, and Sunidhi with this drug ring. However, although accused Arindam Roy made these statements to the investigator, he objected to giving a statement under Section 164 before the court. To verify the truth of his statements and whether he was using social media for drug trafficking, his seized mobile phone was sent to the CID forensic lab.
However, reviewing the CID forensic report, it was found that the phone was locked with a PIN code, and the lock could not be bypassed in the lab. As a result, they could not retrieve any information from the mobile phone about his involvement in drug trafficking with anyone else through social media.
Regarding the models, the charge sheet states that the accused's statements about drug trafficking and transactions with models Tisha, Safa, Toya, and Sunidhi via mobile phone were investigated. The forensic report from the accused's mobile phone showed that due to the password lock, no information could be obtained about his involvement in drug trafficking with the models or anyone else. Therefore, based on the accused's statements, no evidence was found linking the models to drug trafficking.
The case details state that on 17 October 2024, Arindam Roy was arrested from Shahjalal International Airport on charges of involvement in drug peddling. He was searched and drugs including Tetra Hydro Cannabinol and high-quality Ganja Kush imported from Canada, Happy Drug imported from the UK, and 39 kg of lead were recovered. On 18 October, Inspector Dewan Mohammad Zillur Rahman of the Department of Narcotics Control filed a case at Paltan Model Police Station in connection with this incident.
