Report: 108 Arrested in PUBG Mobile LAN Event in Bangladesh After Police Raid
A shock to the competitive PUBG Mobile scene in Bangladesh.
Cover-Credits:
An unfortunate event has taken place in Bangladesh today on 20th July sending shockwaves through the South Asian PUBG Mobile (PUBGM) community. During an ongoing PUBGM tournament being held on LAN in Chuadanga, Bangladesh, the local police raided the event and arrested 108 people, according to a report by Bangladeshi media outlet Ogro News. A total of 19 PUBG Mobile teams were allegedly participated in it.
As per the police report, all teams arrived at a community center in the Sohortoli Daulatdiar area on Tuesday evening (19th July) and competed through the night despite the game being banned in the country by the Bangladeshi government.
Police in Bangladesh raid PUBG Mobile event taking place on LAN and arrest several players
Last year on 16th August, the Bangladesh High Court (HC) directed the government to immediately ban both PUBG Mobile and Free Fire for three months. This was followed by the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) ordering the removal of both titles from the country's online platforms.
Since then the two mobile battle royale games have remained banned in the country. Despite these restrictions, a PUBG Mobile LAN tournament was organized in the city of Chuadanga, at a community center in the Sohortoli Daulatdiar area.
PUBG Mobile players from different districts were apparently sent an invite for this tournament online. When the local police was alerted about this, the law enforcement agency raided the community center and arrested 108 people.
Note: Another report by Gametube states that 120 people were arrested, including both players and staff.
Mahabbur Rahman - OIC (Officer-in-Charge) of Chuadanga Sadar police station, said that all the arrested participants were students from different schools and colleges, and added that expensive smartphones were recovered from all of them.
Anisuzzaman - Chuadanga Additional Superintendent of Police, said that legal action would be taken against all those arrested keeping their age under consideration.
It has been further reported by Ogro News that 24 arrested PUBG Mobile players have been sentenced to two days in prison, while the remaining 78 players are undergoing age verification based on which they will be sent to prison if found to be 18-years-old or above. As for the six remaining organizers, legal process against them will soon be initiated.
An additional reason reportedly being provided behind the local police conducting this raid is that the organizers of this PUBG Mobile tournament did not take relevant permission(s) for conducting the LAN event.
However, considering the fact that PUBG Mobile is currently banned in the country, it is unlikely that the organizers would have received permission to host the tournament.
