Victims are disappointed and lack trust in the police force to control the offence.

Recently many incidents of mugging have been reported every day in some part of the city or other.

"The police alone cannot prevent mugging unless the factors responsible for the crime are addressed," said Additional Commissioner Faruq Ahmed, Crime Division, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP).

"We have various constraints, including want of logistics, which one must consider before accusing the police of their inaction," he said.

"We need a 70,000 member force in proportion to the city's present population, but we have only a 19,000-member force," Ahmed said.

On September 15, muggers snatched Tk 7,000, a gold chain, three gold rings and an expensive mobile phone set from Rabi Shankar Das, manager of a shipping line company.

Rabi was on his way to the Gulshan Club from Kalabagan in an air-conditioned yellow taxicab around 9:00 pm.

Having taken a right turn, the driver stopped the taxi near Jahangir Gate of the Dhaka Cantonment saying that a problem had occurred in the engine and got down to fix it.

No sooner had he opened the bonnet, a group of three to four muggers got into the taxi from both sides and the driver immediately started the engine.

The muggers had rubbed some balm like substance mixed with chilli powder on his eyes before pushing him out of the taxi at Chairmanbari on the Airport road.

They had rubbed the substance so hard that Rabi's eyes were severely hurt. A passer-by had helped him to get to the Gulshan Club.

When asked why a case was not filed, one of Rabi's relatives said: "We were more concerned with treating his eyes first. Anyway, what good will the police bring even if a case is filed?"

In another incident, muggers snatched a gold chain with locket, a pair of gold earrings and about Tk 5-6,000 in cash from a Unicef Bangladesh staff member, Anila Ahmed while she was returning home along Circuit House Road by rickshaw around 10:00 pm. the same day.

The bag was found on Dhanmondi road no-32 around 10:30pm. A journalist, passing by, found some youths fleeing stopped and took the bag from a street urchin. The following day, he returned the bag to Unicef office, it contained Anila's identity tag.

Anila had been heading home from Kakrail along with her husband.

"As soon as we approached the Circuit House Mosque, muggers in a yellow taxicab (Indica model) intercepted us, snatched my handbag and fled," Anila said.

"We thought of filing a case but refrained as it would not bring any positive outcome," she said.

In a third incident, a Dhanmondi road no 11/A resident, Syed Abdul Matin was returning home from Islami Bank, Dhanmondi branch with Tk 50, 000 in a rickshaw around 2:30 pm.

Some youths on three motor-bicycles, intercepted the rickshaw and snatched the cash at gunpoint near to Matin's house and fled.

Matin filed a case with Dhanmondi police in this connection.

"In most cases, we cannot live up to people's expectations. We face many constraints, especially with manpower," said Mahbubur Rahman, officer-in-charge, Dhanmondi Police Station. "An investigation officer has to deal with many cases at a time, along with routine duty related to law and order," he said.

"If the muggers are identified in any particular case, we nab them and recover lost goods and money," Rahman added.

Regarding lack of people's trust in the police, Ahmed said that it is the general scenario in developing countries.

"Rate of crime like mugging in our country is far less compared to that of Tokyo, Delhi and New York," he added.

The additional commissioner said that the DMP will increase the number of plain-clothed policemen from 40 to 60, mobile patrol teams from 153 to 250 and check posts from 24 to 40, in order to address the law and order situation.

"As part of enhanced security measures, we have identified 70 crime-prone points in the city. We will open a crime control room and introduce police vigilance equipped with 200 motorbikes," he further said.

Another top police officer said seeking anonymity that reasons behind up trend of crimes in the city include massive unemployment, political instability, absence of industrialisation, price hike, labour unrest and a huge floating population.

"Crimes like mugging take place out of need, not out of greed," he said.