Armed muggers snatched around Tk 7 lakh after shooting and injuring two milk traders at Jatrabari in the city yesterday afternoon.
The injured, Shaheen Dofadar, 32, and Abdul Hashem, 45, were undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) with bullet wounds. Shaheen received a bullet injury in the chest while Hashem in the back.
Witnesses said around 10 muggers on four motorbikes spread bullets on four milk traders, including the injured, on an alley at West Jatrabari and made off with the money.
“Failing to deposit the money at Dayaganj branch of Sonali Bank as the banking hours were over, we were returning to our office on foot when we came under the attack at 5:15pm,” said Sultan Mian, one of the four milk traders.
They supply milk at different shops in the City under a cooperative tiled 'Old Dhaka Milk Distribution Cooperative'. They have a total of 127 members, he added.
Sultan said several of their members went to the bank to deposit Tk 29 lakh after a daylong collection and managed to deposit Tk 22 lakh.
Another victim told The Daily Star that “When we reached an alley near the office, two of the muggers started spreading bullets at us from behind and snatched a bag containing some of the money from Abul Hashem.”
“Soon five to six of the muggers fired blanks in the air for safe passage,” said another witness Anwar Hossain, adding that by the time around 50 locals gathered in the area and started pelting brickbats at the muggers, but they managed to flee with the motorbikes.
Police could neither arrest anyone nor recover the looted money.