Cattle traders were returning home after selling sacrificial animals in Dhaka when members of a robbery gang looted the large sums they carried and threw them out of the vehicle onto the road. The gang's leaders then used the looted money for their own qurbani.

Detective Branch (DB) chief Additional Police Commissioner Mohammad Harun Or Rashid gave these details at a press conference at the DB office on Bailey Road in the capital at noon on Sunday, 23 June.

On Saturday, 22 June, the Uttara division of the Dhaka Metropolitan Detective Branch (DB) arrested 10 active members of the gang, which robbed people on roads in Dhaka, Gazipur and Mymensingh.

The DB chief said they were arrested in raids in the Nabisco area under Tejgaon Industrial Area police station in the capital and at Charpara intersection under Kotwali police station in Mymensingh.

Those arrested are Md Faisal Ahammed Rigan (30), Md Tareq Mia (35), Tanvir Ahammed Antor (26), Md Milon (22), Md Jabed Iqbal alias Badal (32), Abdullah Al Mamun (37), Md Ratan Mia (38), Md Selim Mia (30), Md Rubel Mia (34) and Md Sumon Mia (35).

Tk 7 lakh 14 thousand, 13 mobile phones, two knives and plastic rope were recovered from them at the time of arrest.

Harun Or Rashid said that on 16 June a group of traders who had sold cattle in the capital boarded a bus from the airport area to go to Jamalpur. After they got on, the helper locked the bus door. Before reaching Abdullahpur, the helper asked the traders for the fare. Because Jamalpur was a long way off, the traders wanted to pay later.

The bus helper and gang members who were already on board then grabbed the traders by their shirt collars, punched them, gagged them and threatened them, demanding their money. The robbers took all the money from the cattle sales and threw the traders out onto the road.

The DB chief said a case was filed at the airport police station the same day. The DB's Uttara division carried out a parallel investigation, in the course of which it arrested 10 people involved in the robbery.

He said there are several cases against those arrested in Dhaka, Mymensingh and Gazipur. The gang's business is robbery around festivals. They also wait in the airport area, stop vehicles carrying expatriates and rob them of everything.

During questioning, those arrested told the DB that they often commit robberies on the Dhaka and Gazipur roads. The gang is led by the arrested Badal and Tareq, and by another robber, Liton, who is on the run.

Around Eid-ul-Azha, gang members stay at the temporary cattle markets, follow the traders, get them into their vehicles and rob them. They also rob people travelling home for Eid with cash. The gang has admitted to 200 to 250 robberies so far.

Around this Eid-ul-Azha they have committed six to seven robberies so far. Before Eid the gang picked up four people in the Khilkhet area and looted Tk 5 lakh and two mobile phones. Ten days before Eid they picked up an expatriate at the airport and looted his riyals and taka.

Harun Or Rashid added that gang leader Md Jabed Iqbal alias Badal paid for a cow for qurbani this Eid with Tk 2 lakh 10 thousand of the looted money, and another leader, Md Tareq Mia, sacrificed a cow bought with Tk 1 lakh 75 thousand of the loot.

Asked how many times the gang members, who say they have committed 200 to 250 robberies, had been arrested and granted bail, Harun Or Rashid said the cases were filed at various police stations. "We cannot say how they get bail from the courts and come out," he said.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.