Email threats to foreign missions prompt tighter security

 
Security has been tightened across Dhaka’s diplomatic zones after several foreign missions received threatening emails, prompting police to step up surveillance and launch efforts to identify those behind the messages.

Police increased monitoring in the Gulshan and Baridhara areas after receiving information about the threats, Abu Khayer, Additional Deputy Commissioner of the Diplomatic Security Division, said Sunday.

"We have not received any written complaint," Khayer said, adding that heightened vigilance was part of the division's routine response to any security-related information.

Several embassies in Dhaka, including the Chinese and Russian missions, reportedly received threatening emails last week. The missions informed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which subsequently alerted police headquarters and several units of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police, including the Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit.

The messages reportedly demanded money, raising concerns among law-enforcement agencies about an attempt to intimidate diplomatic missions or create instability around the capital's diplomatic enclave.

DMP Detective Branch chief Shafiqul Islam said investigators were working to identify those responsible and bring them to justice. "Three to four embassies and several government offices have received similar messages," Shafiqul said.

Police have since increased both visible and covert security around diplomatic establishments, deploying additional plainclothes officers alongside uniformed personnel. Checkpoints and patrols have also been strengthened in areas where foreign missions are concentrated.

Authorities are examining the messages and trying to establish whether they originated from the same source, according to officials familiar with the investigation.

Shafiqul described the threats as more than a criminal act, saying they could be intended to undermine Bangladesh's image and frighten foreign ambassadors and diplomatic personnel. He characterized the incidents as an "anti-state activity."

Despite the reported threats, police officials said there was no immediate indication of a broader security breakdown in the diplomatic areas.

Khayer said security arrangements around diplomatic missions remained in place and that officers were maintaining heightened vigilance.