Nexus between ticket black marketers and railway staff

When he found a temporary job at Rajshahi Railway Station three years ago, Kawsar Hossain, 42, made friends with some railway staff. The friendship turned beneficial for him when he became unemployed a year ago.

Kawsar would collect railway tickets from the booking staff in advance, creating a crisis of tickets at the booking counters and sell those tickets at higher prices.

Kawsar divulged the information before a mobile court that monitored ticket sales at Rajshahi Railway Station yesterday for five hours since 8:30am, said Executive Magistrate Anisur Rahman who led the mobile court.

Sunday morning turned unlucky for Kawsar when one of his customers called him.

He was then standing in a queue for collecting tickets along with hundreds of other people who were also waiting for 625 tickets for June 19 for going to Dhaka.

Kawsar thought he would fool the others in the queue and began bargaining with his client on the phone.

“I have tickets for June 19. Each ticket would cost you Tk 1,500,” he told the caller.

When he asked his caller to come to the main entrance of the station to collect the tickets, some of the men who were in the queue followed him and one of them informed a member of the mobile court.

The mobile court caught him red-handed and found 13 tickets in his possession, eight of which were for Dhaka to Rajshahi for June 12 and 13.

Through Kawsar, the mobile court caught Safayet Hossain Shimul, 35, another black-marketer of railway tickets.

The court jailed both Kawsar and Shimul for three months for forming a network of black-marketers.

The court also caught two other black-marketers of railway tickets.

The arrested black-marketers admitted before the mobile court that they recruit unemployed labourers and women for standing in queues during holiday season for collecting tickets. In exchange, they pay them Tk 500 per ticket.

“The black-marketers are connected with railway staff,” said Executive Magistrate Anisur Rahman, adding that the latter could not be identified immediately.