‘Once drivers, they now hijack buses to conduct robbery’
They were drivers by profession and used to work in public transport.
But in the last 10 years, they were arrested and sent to prison for petty crimes such as theft and domestic violence.
And it was in the prison they got acquainted, formed a group and started conducting robbery in the capital and nearby districts.
Police's detective branch (DB) yesterday claimed to have arrested seven members of this robber gang.
The arrestees were identified as Md Fakrul Kabir Shanto, ringleader of the group, and his associates -- Md Rafiq, Md Riaz, Md Rasel, Md Shahjamal, Harun Or Rashid and Md Humayun Kabir, according to law enforcers.
Police arrested the seven from Gabtoli, Mohammadpur and Mirpur areas of Dhaka and Savar during a special drive on Wednesday, Anich Uddin Bahadur, additional deputy commissioner of DB police, who led the drive, told The Daily Star yesterday.
Police also recovered 10 cellphones, Tk 6,000, three knives, three machetes and two walkie-talkies from their possession, said the official.
The additional deputy commissioner said these robbers sometimes posed as law enforcement officials for looting valuables from people, and the walkie-talkies were used to deceive them.
Ringleader Shanto is wanted in at least 15 cases including arms and robbery, filed with different police stations including Dhaka, Gazipur, Pabna and Mymensingh, said ADC Shahadat Hossain of DB (Tejgaon division) police.
According to police, arrestee Rafiq is wanted in three similar cases, filed with Ashulia and Sirajganj police stations while Riaz is wanted in couple of cases filed with Ashulia Police Station, added ADC Shahadat Hossain.
For conducting a robbery, they mainly targeted day-night buses, which started journey from different districts and reached the capital past midnight, according to detectives.
Once a bus dropped off passengers, the gang took control of the vehicle by confining the staff members and then conducted robbery with the bus till the morning.
They mostly took passengers inside the bus and looted their valuables at gun point, said detectives.
The gang's latest target was a bus of AK Travels.
According to the first information report filed by bus supervisor Abu Hurayra with Adabor Police Station, the vehicle, starting its journey from Satkhira with passengers, reached Dhaka around 1am on December 19.
They dropped off all passengers and parked the bus in Shyamoli area to have food at an eatery.
When they returned to the bus around 2:30am, some 10 to 15 people entered the vehicle and took their money and phones at knifepoint, read the first information report.
The robbers then tied and blindfolded the bus supervisor, driver Abdur Rashid and helper Saiful Islam, and kept them at the back of the vehicle.
One of the robbers drove the bus and another posing as the supervisor took in passengers to loot valuables from them, according to the FIR.
Around dawn, the robbers left the bus abandoned, keeping passengers and staffers tied inside.
One of the passengers managed to untie his hands and free the others.
There were around 15 passengers blindfolded inside the vehicle, including a uniformed police officer.
Robbers also took away his walkie-talkie set.
While investigating the case, detectives managed to arrest the seven but some six to eight are still on the run, said ADC Anich Uddin.
"We are conducting drives to arrest the absconding members of the gang," he added.
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