Tk 2.35cr gold looted from city jewellery

Over 785 tolas of gold worth over Tk 2.35 crore was burgled at a jewellery shop of Muktijuddha Super Market in the city's Mirpur-1 on Saturday night.
All the jewellery shop owners of the area kept their shops closed yesterday protesting the burglary. The shop owners' association leaders threatened an agitation programme from Wednesday if the burglars are not arrested and the gold recovered within the time.
Police said the burglars entered Dewan Jewellary on the ground floor of the market, apparently breaking open the locks of adjacent Jyoti Cosmetics and Imitation Jewellers, as they found a hole cut through the wall between the two shops.
Mohammad Shah Alam Siddique Babu, manager of Dewan Jewellery, said, “When police opened the shop around 10:30 am, we found all our displays and three of six vaults empty. Initially we found the gold ornaments and Tk 3.5 lakh from cash boxes missing from the shop.”
Jahid, an employee, said he along with his three colleagues opened the shutters of their shop around 9:30 am and found some cases on the floor.
He added that on information, shop owner Tazul Islam Dewan along with police rushed in around 10:30 am. The shop was locked at 8:00 pm on Saturday.
Owner of the cosmetics shop Mir Kaisar Muktadir who reached his shop around 10:00am said, “I found that two of the four locks of my shop were changed. I also found a hole in the wall between the two shops after Criminal Investigation Department personnel opened the lock.”
Manager Babu said another burglary took place around one and a half years ago at their branch of Shah Ali Shopping Complex in the city.
Manik Mia, president of Traders' Association of Mirpur zone, said, “We will keep shutters of all business centres down from Wednesday for indefinite period if the authorities concerned fail to take proper steps to recover the gold and arrest the burglars and ensure security of the traders in the area.”
He said two robberies took place at two jewellery shops on broad daylight while two burglaries in the market in last few months.
OC Abdul Latif of Shah Ali Police Station said though Jyoti Cosmetics and Imitation Jewellers is at the front of the market, this side had makeshift shops of hawkers, making it invisible from the road that helped the burglars.
He said a CID team collected fingerprints and other evidence from the spot.
Mahtab Chowdhury, chairman of private security firm Mahtab Chowdhury Security Service Pvt Ltd, said four security guards were deployed at four corner of the market while their supervisor on the fifth floor on Saturday night.
LOCAL TRADERS' GRIEVANCES
Traders in the market alleged that hawkers have built makeshift shops around the market but the market authorities did not take any steps to evict them for ensuring its security.
They believe that if the makeshift shops did not cover the Jyoti Cosmetics, patrol police or pedestrians might have detected the burglars beforehand.
Many traders alleged that the market authorities did not evict the hawkers for extra income.
Jahid, a member of traders' association, said they have lodged applications to the Dhaka metropolitan police commissioner, and the OC of Shah Ali Police Station several times seeking eviction of the makeshift shops but to no avail.