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‘Mastaans’ and the Market for Social Protection Exploring Mafia Groups in Dhaka, Bangladesh

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Abstract

This paper presents a study of mafia groups in Bangladesh. Drawing on the views and experiences of 22 street children, 80 interviews with criminal justice practitioners, NGO workers and community members and over 3 years of participant observation of the criminal justice system, the paper considers the ‘mastaans’: Bangladeshi mafia groups. The article draws on both theories of protection and behaviour to develop a social protection theory of the mafia. The article considers the social networks of mastaan groups, their prevalence, where they operate, divisions of labour, the crimes that they commit and the associations that they have with politicians and the police. The paper demonstrates that mastaans work in alliance with corrupt members of the state and they provide access to services, resolve disputes, commit extortion and carry out a wide array of criminal activity, much of which relies on their monopolisation of violence to protect their illegal industries. The paper demonstrates—for the first time—that mafias operate in Bangladesh and draws on data gathered from both adults and children, the implications of which are discussed.

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Notes

  1. The term mastaan is often spelt differently in India.

  2. Daily Star. Bangladesh ‘Crime gangs grip city’. 31 March 2010. Available online at: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=132303

  3. The Bangladesh Police Force publishes a list of 20 ‘top terrorists’ akin to a list of most-wanted criminals.

  4. Daily Star. Bangladesh ‘Crime gangs grip city’. 31 March 2010. Available online at: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=132303

  5. Group interview (number 5) with the children

  6. Daily Star, Bangladesh. ‘Fresh DNP drive as Top Terror slips out’. 14 February 2009. Available online at: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=75790

  7. Daily Star, Bangladesh ‘Crime gangs grip city’. 31 March 2010. Available online at: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=132303

  8. Daily Star, Bangladesh. ‘The Rise of a Dreaded Criminal’. 5 July 2012. Available online at: http://archive.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=240981

  9. Bhaumik, S. ‘Wanted Bangladeshi held in India’. BBC News, 13 October 2008. Available online at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7667083.stm

  10. Daily Star. Bangladesh ‘Crime gangs grip city. 31 March 2010. Available online at: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=132303

  11. Daily Star. Bangladesh ‘Crime gangs grip city. 31 March 2010. Available online at: http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=132303

  12. Semi-structured interview 3

  13. For more details, see the case study of Mirpur discussed at a later stage within this chapter.

  14. Semi-structured interview 1

  15. Semi-structured interview 10

  16. Semi-structured interview 19

  17. Semi-structured interview 20

  18. Awami League

  19. Bangladesh National Party

  20. Group interview (number 5) with the children

  21. Semi-structured interview 3

  22. Semi-structured interview 11

  23. Semi-structured interview 28

  24. Semi-structured interview 28

  25. The youth section of the Awami League (current government)

  26. Semi-structured interview 21

  27. Semi-structured interview 5

  28. Semi-structured interview 18

  29. Unstructured interview 76

  30. Unstructured interview 76

  31. Semi-structured interview 34

  32. Semi-structured interview 34

  33. Semi-structured interview 29

  34. For a more in-depth discussion of this issue, please see Atkinson-Sheppard (2015).

  35. Semi-structured interview 4

  36. Group interview (number 3) with the children

  37. Semi-structured interview 13

  38. For a more detailed discussed of ‘illicit child labour’, please see Atkinson-Sheppard (2015).

  39. Semi-structured interview 9

  40. Please see Atkinson-Sheppard (forthcoming), Street children and Dhaka’s Gangs: Using a Case Study to Explore Bangladeshi Organised Crime. SAGE Research Methods Cases. xx-xx.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chaoyang, Beijing, China

    Sally Atkinson-Sheppard

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  1. Sally Atkinson-Sheppard
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Correspondence to Sally Atkinson-Sheppard.

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This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

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The author declares that she has no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of King’s College London Research Ethics Committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Atkinson-Sheppard, S. ‘Mastaans’ and the Market for Social Protection Exploring Mafia Groups in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Asian Criminology 12, 235–253 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11417-017-9246-9

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