US embassy cable - 05DHAKA4189

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DHAKA 004189 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/03/2015 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, BG, Crime/Murders 
SUBJECT: RAB ANNIVERSARY ANALYSIS 
 
REF: A. A. DHAKA 00345 
     B. B. DHAKA 03692 
 
Classified By: A/DCM D.C. McCullough reasons para 1.5 (b),(d) 
 
1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  The controversial Rapid Action Battalion 
has developed into a popular fixture in the BDG's otherwise 
lowly-regarded law enforcement architecture, thanks mostly to 
its perceived crime-busting prowess built on its 117 
"cross-fire," or extrajudicial, killings of criminal 
suspects.  RAB's swagger and access to resources make it the 
envy of other police units.  END SUMMARY 
 
2. (SBU) The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) is a para-military 
police unit that was designed to address escalating popular 
uproar over violent crime, and became operational in June 
2004 under the supervision of the Ministry of Home Affairs. 
According to a senior military officer seconded to RAB's 
leadership (ref a), RAB's aim was to "protect poor people 
from corrupt police and violent crime," and that due process 
is its eventual objective.  RAB's size and support structures 
have grown markedly since its launch to the point that it now 
has the feel of a permanent institution, and not the interim 
measure, it was once billed as. 
 
Profile 
------- 
 
3. (SBU) RAB now has seven units totaling 5,521 men, and 
plans to create four more battalions with more than 7,000 men 
by next year.  Battalions are deployed around the country, 
including Dhaka, Rajshahi, Khulna, and Chittagong.  The 
Bangladesh National Police, by contrast, have 116,000 
personnel.  RAB is comprised of seconded from the military 
(40 percent) and the police (another 40 percent), with the 
remainder from other military and paramilitary bodies.  RAB 
has arrested nearly 5,000 persons for petty and major crimes. 
 
 
4. (SBU) As RAB's reputation for getting results grew, so did 
its mandate, from capturing criminal kingpins to: performing 
general internal security duties, especially during holidays 
or VIP events; gathering intelligence on criminals and 
criminal activities; recovering illicit arms, ammunition, and 
explosives; rescuing human trafficking victims; recovering 
narcotics; investigating major loan defaults; and 
spearheading operations against alleged Indian insurgents in 
the northeastern border areas.  According to press reports, 
on August 19 and 20, RAB arrested two police sergeants 
responsible for selling four AK-47 rifles lost from the 
Chittagong arms haul on April 2.  During the Eid-al-Adha 
holiday, when it is customary to sacrifice a cow, RAB's 
presence at the large cattle markets was credited for keeping 
away the extortionists who normally exploit peak seasons.  An 
editorial in the Financial Express in June praised RAB for 
making "all the difference in the construction sector as in 
other areas of trade and industry" by cutting down on 
extortionists at construction sites. 
 
5. (C) RAB's distinct swagger stems from its atypically sharp 
appearance (black uniforms and bandannas), its unquestioned 
popularity, its reputation for getting results and being 
(relatively) honest, and its disciplined and professional 
public comportment.  It also has a slick website, and is 
favored in the allocation of resources.  It reportedly has 
digital tracking systems, is building an air wing, has 
floated tenders and sought assistance from the U.S. and other 
countries for equipment and training, and is building a 
training school and its own forensic lab.  While there is no 
RAB line item in the new BDG budget, the police development 
budget quadrupled from about $6.5 million dollars to $26.9 
million dollars. 
 
6. (C) Despite fears RAB would become politicized and a blunt 
instrument against the political opposition, and Awami League 
allegations that RAB has gone after it that it has been 
unable to document, RAB appears to have remained focused on 
criminals, many notorious with long records of violent 
offenses.  However, the widespread connections between 
politicians in both the AL and the BNP with criminals 
sometimes muddy the waters.  In the context of Bangladesh's 
infamously corrupt and politicized police, RAB's focus on 
"real" criminals has further enhanced its popularity.  One 
BDG minister recently told us that some of his party 
colleagues want to dismantle RAB before the caretaker 
government takes power out of fear that RAB would go after 
high-ranking government officials involved with corruption 
and other crimes.  (Comment: As the minister acknowledged, 
dismantling RAB is a very remote prospect.) 
 
The Downside 
------------ 
 
7. (C) In the past several months, largely English-language 
newspapers began to report on incidents of RAB corruption and 
abuses of power.  A RAB sergeant from the air force, for 
example, was caught red handed extorting money from petty 
traders, and four RAB four members stole approximately 
$12,000 from a cattle trader in Mirpur.  Other cases included 
bribery and inappropriate involvement in property disputes, 
as well as robberies in Dhaka, Chuadanga, Fatullah, and 
Brahmanbaria.  In April, several newspapers ran editorials 
critically scrutinizing RAB's record and its increasingly 
clear disdain for due process.  Home Minister of State of 
Babar was prompted to warn RAB members, "If a RAB member 
fails to keep discipline, the government will act tough 
against him."  Following Babar's warning, at least 109 RAB 
members have reportedly been internally disciplined for 
criminal and other offenses, though notably not for 
cross-fire killings, according to local press reports. 
Punishments included dismissal from service and imprisonment. 
 
8. (C) RAB's best known feature, and the practice credited 
for making streets safer, is so-called "cross-fire" killings, 
the extra-judicial execution of detainees and criminal 
suspects.  The story is virtually the same every time: as a 
suspect leads RAB to an arms cache or the hideout of cohorts, 
a firefight breaks out that ends up killing the suspect.  In 
theory, a magistrate investigates every "cross-fire" death, 
but every shooting thus far has been upheld as lawful. 
Through July 2005, there have been 117 RAB cross-fires.  The 
cross-fire phenomenon spread to the rest of the police, which 
is now wracking up nearly three times as many cross-fires as 
RAB, or 245 since June 2004. 
 
9. (C) The BDG's almost open endorsement of RAB's 
extra-judicial killings fostered RAB's aura of impunity 
which, not surprisingly, has led to several high-profile 
cases of abuse of power.  In June, RAB "cross-fired" someone 
in a clear case of mistaken identity, and there have been 
several cases where persons with no criminal record were 
killed.  In a widely publicized incident, a businessman who 
intervened when off-duty plainclothes RAB officers were 
beating up someone on the street after a minor traffic 
incident ended up being beat and tortured himself; only 
prompt action by an influential personal contact saved him 
from further abuse and possible cross-fire (ref b).  Police 
and other law enforcement elements have threatened suspects 
with cross-fire to force them to confess or provide other 
information. 
 
10. (C) From RAB's outset, BDG leaders have condoned and 
justified cross-fires as popular and effective in bringing 
down notorious criminals.  The Prime Minister, the Home 
Minister, the Law Minister, and Foreign Minister are just a 
few of the officials who tell us RAB acts in self-defense or 
that cross-fire victims are just criminals who deserve their 
fate.  Law Minister Ahmed actually told us that the rights of 
the long-suffering majority should trump the rights of a few 
criminals.  Home Minister of State Babar once complained to 
the press that "when criminals are being killed in 
encounters, human rights organizations speak out.  But when 
policemen get killed by them (criminals), no one speaks about 
human rights." 
 
11. (C) In this climate, Bangladeshi human rights 
organizations are reluctant to take on RAB.  One exception 
Ain-O-Salish Kendro, which released a book in June denouncing 
RAB as a propagator of "state-sponsored terrorism."  But at 
its ceremony launching the book, members of a support group 
of victims of criminals killed by RAB heckled the 
proceedings.  When the visiting Deputy Attorney General of 
New Jersey, a Bangladeshi-American, voiced her concerns about 
RAB and extrajudicial killings to 100 entry-level officials 
at the Bangladesh Public Administration Training Center, the 
audience scorned her use of the term "extra-judicial 
killings."  One person stated, to great applause: "The 
government has taken the decision (to give RAB a free hand) 
for the good of the nation" and eliminate "social 
weaknesses." 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
12. (C) RAB is easily the most successful initiative of this 
BNP government, which can apparently turn on and turn off the 
cross-fire tap more or less at will.  In March and April, 
there was a dramatic drop in killings after we pressed the 
BDG hard on the issue and warned it about Leahy amendment 
implications, and there was also a clear lull before and 
during Home Minister of State Babar's recent visit to the 
U.S.  By BNP calculations, it has much more to lose than gain 
by ending cross-fires, and in a country where there is little 
public confidence in law enforcement, government institutions 
in general, or the rule of law, it is hard to convince 
ordinary people that they should respect the concept of due 
process and consider the longer-term consequences of 
extra-judicial murder. 
CHAMMAS