TikTok videos fuel growth of ‘youth gangs’, armed displays

“A group of teenagers was parading through the streets, shouting and waving machetes. Terrified, shopkeepers pulled down their shutters and hid inside. People in Cumilla’s Kaptan Bazar had never seen such a public display of weapons before. Startled by the sudden incident, pedestrians were running about in fear.”

A businessman in Kaptan Bazar described an incident one afternoon last May in these words. He was too afraid to disclose his name.

An inquiry into the incident found that it had taken place on a Friday. That day, between 100 and 150 teenagers and young men divided into small groups paraded through the areas from Bhatar Pukur on the banks of the Gomti River to Kaptan Bazar, Bow Bazar, Chanpur and Sangraish, carrying machetes, cleavers and sticks. Several motorcycles travelling at high speed and making loud noises led the procession. They had announced the event on social media before taking to the streets.

Kotwali Model police station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Touhidul Anwar told Prothom Alo that the group was called ‘Crime Setup’. Police became aware of the new group’s emergence that very day.

An inquiry found that at least 20 such gangs are currently active in Cumilla city. Members of these gangs have been named in at least 25 high-profile criminal incidents during the first eight and a half months of this year.

Most recently, two teenagers were arrested last Friday night in connection with the abduction and killing of 13-year-old Ishayat Shahriar Apratim, who was taken to a secluded wooded area in the hills, where his iPhone was snatched. The incident has once again brought the activities of teen gangs in Cumilla into focus.

The main accused in Apratim’s killing, 19-year-old Saiful Islam Tuhin, had also been trying to form a teen gang. Tuhin had attempted to recruit Apratim into the group as well. Behind the stated purpose of making videos for TikTok, he was trying to bring other teenagers together.

Local residents and family sources said one of the other three teenagers arrested in connection with Apratim’s killing had taken money from his Saudi-based father to buy an iPhone. He regularly used it to make videos and post them on TikTok. Another teenager had bought a motorcycle.

Those accused in Apratim’s killing had also attended several ‘gang parties’. Local residents said Tuhin had organised several such parties in recent months. He also posted photographs on Facebook showing the groups of teenagers attending the parties, apparently to showcase their presence.

Protests by teachers and students at Cumilla University have also called for an investigation into the role of teen gangs in Apratim’s killing and action against them. Yesterday, Tuesday, students held a silent procession on campus with these demands. They said that while Apratim’s mother, Nahida Begum, an associate professor in the university’s Department of Bangla, was serving as an assistant proctor, she had handed over several teen gang members to police during anti-drug drives. They said it should be investigated whether her only child was killed out of resentment over those actions.

Creating fear through sheer presence

The experiences of residents of Sangraish and Chanpur are similar to the account given by the Kaptan Bazar businessman. A parent from Chanpur told Prothom Alo that many members of the teen gangs are school and college students. After learning this, parents are now afraid to let their children go outside.

A similar scene of fear was witnessed in January 2025. After seeing an armed display beside Rani’s Dighi, Kandirpar businessman Kamruzzaman said, “I was so frightened that I felt as though my life was about to end.” He alleged that the groups of teenagers had become reckless.

Another widely discussed incident that created panic occurred on 25 April 2025. Prashanta Karmakar was beside Rani’s Dighi with the parent of an examinee who had come from Chandpur to sit for the Cumilla University admission test. He told Prothom Alo that a group of teenagers suddenly appeared from the southeast corner carrying locally made weapons, began parading and set off firecrackers, spreading panic. That same afternoon, armed groups also paraded around Tal Pukur and Court Para.

Cumilla Superintendent of Police Md Anisuzzaman told Prothom Alo that since he took charge on 30 November last year, more than 250 teen gang members had been arrested. However, because many of them are juveniles, they are often released soon after arrest and return to similar criminal activities. In many cases, their parents have been called in and made to sign undertakings. But because of their young age, he said, it is difficult to curb juvenile crime through police action alone.

A decade of history, names in 12 murders

The activities of teen gangs in Cumilla did not begin recently. The issue came into widespread public discussion in the city around 2015, when three or four groups were particularly active.

By around 2022, the number had risen to at least 20. Including their branches and sub-groups, however, the actual number was much higher. At the time, the most talked-about groups were Royal Bengal, Sizzlin, J & J, Big Brother, Twist, Black Star, Dark, Eagle, RGS, Rax, X, LRN, CMC, Modern, Rockstar, Disco Boys and Boss.

At the time, the names and logos of these gangs could be seen painted on walls in areas including the banks of Dharmasagar. Gang members had Messenger groups, similar clothes and hairstyles, and designated hangout spots.

Between 2017 and 2025, their names surfaced in at least 12 murder cases. They were also involved in more than a hundred other crimes. Teen gang members were politically used in territorial disputes and rival displays of strength.

On the issue, Cumilla city BNP General Secretary and City Corporation Administrator Yousuf Molla (Tipu) told Prothom Alo, “I don’t know what the situation is elsewhere in Bangladesh. But in Cumilla, there is now hardly any neighbourhood without a teen gang.

They must be stopped immediately; they cannot be allowed to grow in any way.” He said teen gangs had previously been patronised through leaders of Jubo League and Chhatra League. He said he had no information that anyone from BNP was patronising teen gangs.

The conflict between Ratan and Eagle is one of the clearest examples of the old rivalries. In 2022, 15-year-old Rabiul Hasan Shahadat was hacked to death amid a dispute between the two groups over the Dharmasagar area and Nagar Udyan.

On 2 February 2024, two people were injured in a clash between the two sides near Circuit House intersection. Sixteen people were arrested and four cases were filed over the incident, during which crude bombs were exploded.

Concern over five groups and retaliatory attacks

On 29 August 2025, police detained 21 members of a teen group called King Squad at the KTCC field in the Housing area. They were aged between 15 and 21. According to police, the group had announced on Facebook that it was preparing for a confrontation with a rival group. During a subsequent operation, police seized machetes, Chinese axes, hockey sticks and rods from them.

Police do not have an updated list of teen gang groups in Cumilla district. However, an inquiry found that five groups, including King Squad, are currently the most talked-about in Cumilla city.

The other four are Squad, or Ratan Group, Eagle, CBK and Crime Setup. There are also two groups known as Apu and Sabbir. Some people, however, describe these as sub-groups because many of their members also move around with other groups.

Police records also contain examples of members of the same group associating with multiple groups. For example, after Tanzim Abdullah was arrested with locally made weapons on 11 October 2024, police said he led six sub-groups: CBK, CBK Danger Zone, CBK Junior, CBK Special and two others. If these are counted as six independent gangs, the total number of gangs would be even higher.

On 22 April 2025, a case was filed naming three members of Ratan Group and around 50 unidentified people over an alleged attempt to hack Nafiz Amay to death in the Ranir Kuthi area beside Dharmasagar. Relatives said one of Nafiz’s hands was almost severed and that he sustained injuries to various parts of his body.

A friend of Nafiz, speaking to Prothom Alo on condition of anonymity, said Nafiz had protested the previous day after another young man was injured by Saiful. In retaliation, 30 to 40 people led by Ratan and Saiful attacked him, the friend said. After the attack, when Ratan and his associates went into hiding, CBK, Eagle and another unidentified group staged armed displays of strength at Ranir Dighi, Tal Pukur and Court Para on 25 April.

A person familiar with at least five gangs in the city told Prothom Alo on condition of anonymity that rival groups were trying to move in because Ratan Group had come under pressure.

Two days after the incident, nine people were arrested in a joint operation by the army and RAB in Durgapur and Racecourse, while another nine were arrested in separate police operations. Pistols, revolvers, bullets, locally made weapons and drugs were recovered during the joint operation.

They are not stopping

Teen gangs are no longer confined to particular areas or particular types of crime in Cumilla. However, they have a stronger presence in some areas. Kandirpar, Dharmasagar, Ranir Dighi, Tal Pukur and areas around Court Para have become particularly conflict-prone because of teen gang activity. Ratan’s network appears to have a stronger influence in Mafizabad and Racecourse.

A murder has also taken place in Ashoktala amid a dispute over drug dealing linked to gangs. King Squad has been particularly active at the KTCC field in Housing, while Crime Setup has been active around Bhatar Pukur, Kaptan Bazar, Bow Bazar, Chanpur and Sangraish along the Gomti River.

On the night of 4 December 2024, Sajib Hossain alias Babu was beaten and stabbed in Ashoktala. He died in hospital the following day. Police said drug dealing by a teen gang was behind the incident. Sajib’s elder sister, Sonia Akhter, told Prothom Alo that her brother worked at a supermarket. She described the attackers as a “terrifying teen gang.”

On 24 June, a dispute began between Apu Group and Sabbir Group over drug dealing in the Katabil area. The following day, during a clash and exchange of gunfire, sixth-grader Ethan Ahmed was shot after he went outside during his tiffin break.

Police later said four people had been arrested and a foreign-made pistol and six bullets recovered. The arrested individuals were aged between 19 and 35. Police, however, described the two sides as local groups.

On 2 April, at the crowded Dharmasagar area, police constable Kazi Abdullah Md Zubayer was injured with a sharp weapon after he protested against obscene remarks directed at his wife, police constable Zakia Sultana. Police arrested two men, Rifat and Siam, aged 19 and 20, respectively, within 12 hours.

Although they are called teen gangs, not everyone in these groups is a minor, meaning under 18. In an operation linked to R Squad in April 2025, for example, people aged 19, 20, 21, 28, 29, 45 and 47 were among those named. A 35-year-old man, Md Rubel, was arrested as the main supplier of weapons.

This has brought attention to the friendships between younger school- and college-going students and many older individuals. Police have described the friendship between Apratim and those accused of killing him as an “unequal friendship.”

From hobbies and friendship to serious crime

An investigation into the teen gangs in Cumilla found several common features among the groups. One is that members are brought together through TikTok videos or groups on social media.

Most gang members carry iPhones or other expensive-brand mobile phones. They use the phones to make videos, adding various incoherent or provocative lines before posting them online.

For example, an account posted several photographs accompanied by the dialogue: “I do hold hands, but I don’t embrace. If I get the chance, I’ll fill you up before you even realise it.”

Many teen gang members also own various types of motorcycles. They have modified the bikes in different ways to make them louder when ridden.

Md Nadim Khan has been running a motorcycle repair business in the Gandhamati-Kotbari area of Sadar South for 16 years. The proprietor of Meheraj Honda Engineering Workshop told Prothom Alo that there are many young people in the area whose families are not financially well-off, yet they ride expensive motorcycles and make loud noises. They also carry expensive phones. “We did not see this kind of environment before,” he said. “Unless these things are monitored, the gangs cannot be stopped.”

The same picture emerged from visits to the homes of those accused in Apratim’s killing and conversations with people connected to them. At around 3:00pm yesterday, a visit to Hatigara in Kalir Bazar Union of Cumilla Adarsha Sadar Upazila found the grandmother of the 16-year-old boy arrested for allegedly directly participating in Apratim’s killing sitting at home with his two younger sisters. His mother was also at home but did not come forward to speak.

The ninth-grade student of Mainamati Technical School and College had become friends with a 15-year-old boy from Salmanpur because they studied at the same institution. It was through him that he came to know Tuhin. His father lives in Saudi Arabia, and he is the only son among three siblings.

Family members and local residents said the family had previously lived in the Changini area of Kotbari before building a house in Hatigara about three years ago. As the “beloved son” of the family, he was given an iPhone by his mother and grandmother. He regularly made TikTok videos with it. His grandmother said police took the phone from her grandson when they came to arrest him. A police source, however, said the phone was an important piece of evidence in Apratim’s killing.

Later that afternoon, a visit to Sudhannapur, a small village in Bijoypur Union of Sadar South Upazila, found a tin-roofed room belonging to Md Siam, 19, who was arrested in connection with Apratim’s killing.

No family member was willing to speak about the matter. Several local residents said that young men from Tuhin’s village who were coming of age often visited the area on motorcycles.

Siam, the middle child among two brothers and a sister, lost his father, Selim Mia, about three years ago. The family lives on the elder brother’s income and money from the sale of his mother’s land.

Siam, a twelfth-grade student at Afzal Khan Technical and Commerce College, bought a motorcycle about a year ago. Local sources said his friendship with Tuhin grew closer through their shared interest in motorcycles.

Three officials involved in the investigation, including one of the rank of additional superintendent of police, told Prothom Alo on condition of anonymity that on the night of Apratim’s killing, Tuhin spent about an hour and a half chatting with Siam and told him about the killing.

Professor Nikhil Chandra Roy, president of the Sachetan Nagarik Committee in Cumilla, told Prothom Alo, “There is hardly any crime that members of teen gangs are not involved in. Political leaders also nurture these groups. As a result, the boys who now parade with weapons are at risk of becoming even more serious criminals in the future. Law enforcement agencies need to be more vigilant about them. At the same time, families must keep track of what their children are doing, where they are going and whom they are associating with.”