From cooks to crooks
They were cooks by profession and had a reputation for cooking quite well.
But that wasn't their only identity. They were part of a robber gang who often raided homes to loot valuables. They used local weapons -- machete, cleaver and kitchen knife -- and if needed, crude bombs to disperse crowd.
The group members were careful too. They never disclosed details of their identities even to other members, so that law enforcers would not be able to trace them if one got arrested.
Police learned about the techniques of this "gang of cooks", following the arrest of its six members and a jewellery shop owner, who used to buy looted ornaments from them.
All the seven arrestees already gave confessional statement (under section 164) before a court.
Officials of Turag Police Station of Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrested the gang on March 10 while investigating a robbery case filed with the police station on January 18.
According to case details, seven to eight masked men attacked the house of one Sazzadur Rahman and looted four-tola gold and money. They also blasted crude bombs while leaving the house to create panic, read the case details.
The arrestees are: Sohrab Hossain Kamal, a leader of the gang; Hannan Sardar; Fazle Sardar; Md Khairul; Masud alias Bhola Masud and Md Mamun.
Police first arrested Sohrab from Turag area and five others from Jatrabari, Bhatara, Agargaon, and Mohamamdpur in the capital, and Bhola, Sheikh Mofizul Islam, inspector (operation) of Turag Police Station, told The Daily Star yesterday.
Mamun is the owner of "Ma Jewelry Shop" at Mohammadpur and he used to buy looted ornaments from the gang, said Mofizul, also the case's investigation officer.
Of the arrestees, Fazle, Hannan and Khairul gave confessional statements on March 11; Masud and Mamun on March 12 and Sohrab on March 15.
Interrogating the arrestees, police also traced another member -- Sohel Jamaddar -- who was arrested by Manikganj police on March 22 in another robbery case.
Later, Sohel was shown arrested in this case and gave confessional statement on March 24, said the inspector. From the confessional statements, police came to know that they were also involved with two other robberies at Pallabi and Turag on January 25.
The IO said the gang has been involved with robbery for last four years and used to target two residences per week.
"We have come to know that the gang has committed robbery in Jhenidah, Jashore, Madaripur, Dhaka, Mymensingh, Gazipur, and Manikganj. Several cases were filed against them," he added.
Police said the arrestees also knew several other robbery gangs across the country.
While conducting robbery or selecting an area, they first communicated with someone who knew the area well, said investigators.
"Then they used a local member to collect information. Afterwards, they took contract to cook food at an event in the area. The gang members completed recce of the targeted house while preparing food for the function," said the police official. After the robbery was done, they used to leave the district quickly.
For example, police said, Sohrab worked as an informer for conducting robbery in Turag as he had been living in the area for last 15 years. He did not take part in the robbery but used other members, said police.
"We also got names of some others gang members and conducting drives to arrest them," added Inspector Mofizul.
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