5 'abductors' arrested
Detective Branch of police have arrested a gang of five alleged abductors, including a minor girl, in separate drives in Dhaka and Sirajganj.
The gang leader, Mohammad Rezaul, had 16-year-old Sheuli Akhter Shilpi trick their targets, mainly youths, into building a relationship with her. She then called them to a desolate place from where Rezaul, 36, along with Anwar Hossain, 45, Abdus Samad, 49, and Mortuza, 28, abducted them for ransom, Senior Assistant Commissioner Nazmul Alam told The Daily Star by phone.
The girl is the second wife of Rezaul, police said.
Four of them, excluding Mortuza, were arrested in a drive in Raiganj of Sirajganj on Sunday. Mortuza was picked up from the capital's Mirpur on that day.
Identifying the abductors during an investigation into a kidnapping case lodged with Turag Police Station on May 2, detectives conducted Sunday's drive, said Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) at a press conference at its media centre yesterday. Jasim, a restaurant owner in Turag, had been abducted by the group in Sirajganj on April 30, said Nazmul Alam, who led the drive.
The abductors then threatened him with taking indecent pictures of him with the girl and asked for ransom. Jasim was freed on May 7 in exchange for around Tk 12 lakh, Nazmul said.
DB police recovered a pair of handcuff, Tk 1 lakh of the ransom money and a toy pistol from their possession, he said, adding local people in Sirajganj had brought several charges, including abduction, against the arrestees.
At the press conference, Monirul said the newly-formed “anti-kidnapping squad” conducted the drives.
DMP on May 3 formed the 40-member squad to prevent abductions in the metropolitan area. The move came in the wake of the recent abduction spree in Narayanganj.
As of yesterday, the squad received as many as 43 allegations of abductions while 22 of threats of abduction, Monirul said.
The squad has been able to rescue only seven victims in as many drives, according to its register book.
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