Cops capture another gang of 'abductors'

The newly-formed Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Dhaka Metropolitan Police arrested another gang of alleged abductors, which has a female member, in the capital's Badda and Mirpur on Tuesday night.
The arrestees, Masuma, Rajib alias Sajeeb, Nikul, Abul Kashem, Iqbal Hossain Kabir and Emdadur Rahman, are active members of an organised gang of kidnappers, said DMP spokesperson Monirul Islam at a press briefing at the DMP media centre yesterday. Detectives are trying to arrest the gang leader, Jahangir, who is on the run, he added.  
The squad carried out drives following a complaint lodged by Ataur Rahman Manik, chairman of Goalbazar union parishad of Malaganj upazila of Sylhet, who had been abducted from in front of Suvastu Nazar Valley in Badda on May 11, DMP Joint Commissioner Monirul said.
One of the gang members called Manik to that place on the day and when he reached there, they took away Tk 40,000 from his possession, he quoted the arrestees as telling the detectives.
The abductors then threatened Manik with taking indecent pictures of him with Masuma, the DMP official said, adding that Manik had been released a day after the abduction when he promised to give them Tk 3 lakh.  
Manik, however, said he had been abducted at gunpoint on his way to Apollo Hospital and that among the abductors he knew Kashem.  
"They [abductors] pushed me into a three wheeler, tied my hands and legs and confined me to a small room nearby.”
After he filed the case, the law enforcers advised him to communicate with the gang, making an excuse to give them the money, Manik said. The law enforcers then tracked down the location of the mobile users and made the arrests.
The DMP joint commissioner claimed the arrestees had told detectives that Jahangir had his 27-year-old sister-in-law Masuma strike up a relationship with the union parishad chairmen and other affluent persons of Sylhet.
When they came to visit the capital, Masuma called them to a place from where the other gang members kidnapped them and demanded ransom from their family members, Monirul said.
Earlier on Sunday, Detective Branch of police arrested five alleged abductors, including a teenage girl, who, according to detectives, had been used to blackmail their targets to realize ransom from them.           
The Anti-Kidnapping Squad was formed on May 3 to fight the ongoing kidnapping spree in the country.  
Asked about the victims, who were abducted allegedly by the law enforcement agencies and are yet untraced, Monirul said detectives were also working on those cases with due importance.