Tk 31 lakh snatched

Five employees of a distributor of Akij Group sustained injuries yesterday as muggers took away Tk 31 lakh from them spraying them with bullets and blasting several crude bombs in the capital's Moghbazar.

The victims are general manager of JR Corporation Ltd Harun-or-Rashid, its accounts officer Nur Mohammad, security guard Altaf Hossain, mechanic Mintu Ali Manik and a shopkeeper, Zahir.

Nur has been undergoing treatment with a bullet injury to the right thigh and splinter injuries in different parts of his body at Insaf Barakah Kidney and General Hospital. The four others also sustained splinter injuries in hands, legs and other parts of their bodies, hospital sources said.

Altaf told The Daily Star the five company staff along with some others headed on foot towards Moghbazar branch of National Credit and Commerce Bank, around 70 yards from their office on Dilu Road, around 10:20am to deposit the money. 

The money was in a steel box attached to the carrier of a bicycle that Altaf was pulling while the others were guarding him from front and behind.

As they moved a few steps from the office, three youths, one carrying a black bag, rushed there, blasted 10 to 15 crude bombs and fired several bullets injuring them, Altaf said.

The criminals then took away the money breaking open the box, the security guard said, adding that he had been hacked as he had tried to capture one of the muggers. They then fled the scene on a motorcycle that had been parked nearby.

Sub-inspector of Ramna Police Station AK Azad said it was a pre-planned operation by the muggers and that police were investigating it.

Police recovered three unexploded crude bombs from the spot.