Passersby as well as passengers of rickshaws and other small vehicles are very afraid of daring mugging that often takes place on different streets, lanes and by-lanes in the capital and on its outskirts.
RAB said muggers have been reckless in the DU area during the Amar Ekushey Book Fair. They also reign supreme in launch ghat, bus stand and railway station areas.
In recent times, the robberies have increased in Khilgaon Malibagh Railgate, Kamalapur, Motijheel, Hatirjeheel, Shahbagh, Paltan, Maniknagar, Nandipara and Gulistan areas.
In most cases, robbers attack pedestrians with sharp weapons when they try to resist them.
Some 29 robbers were arrested in separate raids on Motijheel, Mugda, Wari, Khilgaon, Bangshal, Sabuj Bagh and Shahjahanpur areas of the capital on Wednesday night.
Switch gears, knives, razors, NT cutters, scissors, mobile phones and cash were seized from their possession.
RAB said that in the last six months, a team of RAB-3 conducted 59 raids and arrested 204 robbers.
The perpetrators are Fazle Navid Onon from the Department of Theatre and Performance Studies, Sadik Ahammad from the Institute of Social Welfare and Research and Md Rahat Rahman from the Department of Management Information Systems. All of them are students of the 2021-2022 academic year.
A statement reads on Tuesday that three of them have been temporarily expelled for alleged involvement in “tarnishing the image of the university, misconduct and breaching discipline”.
The incident occurred around 3am on February 4 in front of BUET Central Mosque.
The students allegedly held the van and demanded Tk 50,000 in extortion. When they did not get what they wanted, the three extorted Tk 15,000 from the driver.
However, the driver’s screams caught the attention of a Shahbagh police patrol team and the students tried to flee upon seeing them. But, they could not get far and are now behind bars.
On Sunday, Bangladesh Chhatra League suspended 21 members from four universities and a college for allegedly having links to robbery, extortion, clashes and other criminal activities.
City-dwellers are often falling prey to different muggers’ gang in the capital and losing their cash money, mobile phone sets, gold ornaments and other valuables.
In the wake of such street crimes, law enforcers have launched massive hunt for the criminals in the capital, deputy commissioner (DC) (media) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Faruq Hossain said.
“The commissioner sir has strictly instructed police officials to go for action against the muggers, robbers and aggyan-party men”, the DC added.
Meanwhile, members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) conducting separate drives arrested 29 suspected members of a mugging gang in the capital.
Law enforcers made the arrests in separate raids on Motijheel, Mugda, Wari, Khilgaon, Bangshal, Sabujbagh and Shahjahanpur on Wednesday night.
“Almost all arrestees are named in cases over drugs and extortion. Many of them were arrested earlier and went back to crime after being released from prison on bail.
They don’t have specific addresses in Dhaka and most of them are homeless,” the RAB-3 unit said at a media briefing on Thursday.
Law enforcers launched the drives based on specific complaints, said Lt Col Arif Mohiuddin Ahmed, director of the RAB-3 unit.
They targeted Khilgaon, Malibagh Rail Gate, Kamalapur, Motijheel, Hatirjheel, Shahbagh, Paltan, Maniknagar, Nandipara and Gulistan to rob people, Mohiuddin added.
Mohiuddin said, the members of the gang of organized robbers continue to hang out in different alleys of the capital.
As the media reported on the increasing violence of the gangs of robbers, intelligence surveillance was increased to arrest the robbers and bring them to justice.
Lt. Col. Arif Mohiuddin said the arrested robbers told RAB during interrogation that robbers' activities increase around any festival.
They were planning a large-scale robbery in several other places, including Shahbagh, Shahjahanpur, Motijheel, Kamalapur and Khilgaon.
RAB official said that the robbers used the stolen money to do various types of drugs. They have no permanent home. All those arrested have multiple drug and robbery charges against them. A few days after his arrest, he got out on bail and got involved in his previous work.
