Detectives yesterday arrested eight people, including a schoolteacher, for their alleged involvement in leaking multiple choice questions (MCQs) of the Secondary School Certificate examinations online.

The gang used to leak questions by taking snaps of the question papers usually around 30 minutes before the start of the exams, said Abdul Baten, joint commissioner of the detective branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police.

"They used to solve the MCQs within 10 minutes and upload them on their Facebook group from where the students got the answers right before the exam," he told a press briefing at DMP media centre.

The question papers were leaked either during transportation from the DC office to the exam centres or from the centres to the sub-centres, he said.

The eight were held in the capital and some other districts.

After printing at the BG press, question papers are sent to the deputy commissioner's (DCs) office in the district headquarters and then to the exam centres.

The arrested eight are Rafiqul Islam, an English teacher of KamalapurSher-e-Bangla Railway High School, Jahirul Islam alias Shuvo, Liton Mia, Tarikuzzaman Himel alias Abir, Ariful Islam Arif, Ontor, Romon Hossain alias Mahir, and Rajib Ali.

Rafiqul, who was also an invigilator, would take photos of the questions, while Jahirul solved them and posted the answers on their Facebook group named "Admin Post"

from where others distributed those to their clients, police said.

They charged Tk 1,000 to Tk 5,000 per person, Baten said.

By leaking the questions, Rafiqul wanted to help the students of his coaching centre, “Gyankosh”, in Kamalpur, achieve higher grades and also earn some cash from the clients, the DB official said.

He said, "There will be a negative impact on the country's education system if teachers are involved in such acts."

Replying to a query, Baten said the group had no link with the six polytechnic and diploma students whom detectives arrested on February 14 for "selling fake questions".

Police are looking for those responsible for the leaking questions of the mathematics exams.

There were allegations of question leaks in SSC, HSC and JSC exams in the past several years. In most cases, questions were leaked allegedly through Facebook pages and SMSs.

According to detectives, question papers may be leaked in three phases -during preparation, during printing in the press, and during distribution before the exams.