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New Menace at Traffic Signals

Beware of snatchers of car parts in guise of beggars

Rizanuzzaman Laskar
A white station wagon abruptly pulls up beside the pavement. The car door swings open and the driver scuttles off. He starts chasing someone -- a shabby looking figure. Within seconds, the figure disappears in the crowd followed by his pursuer.
Yes, it is a snatcher getting away with a car exterior decoration piece he just stripped from one at a traffic signal in the city's Gulistan intersection.
A couple of minutes later, the driver - -panting and covered in sweat -- returns to his car. "He managed to get away in the heavy foot traffic. Had I noticed him a few seconds earlier 1 could have caught up with him," he said. "The man is most certainly a drug addict. He will now sell it to a garage or some scrap dealer to buy drugs." Incidents like these are becoming common in city streets. They snatch away car antenna, sun shields, side mirrors or even the aluminium or steal logo of the car brand in the blink of an eye.
"They rip open an exterior car part with so much precision and dexterity. Even a car mechanic will need a few minutes to detach a sun shield from a car window. But they (snatchers) do it within moments," says Shahricr Ahmed, an automobile enthusiast.
"Honestly, they have to be fast, at both unhooking and running away, otherwise a wild beating would await them," he mockingly adds.
Most of these snatchers are drug addicts or petty thieves appearing as an innocent bystander or beggar like many others, law enforcers said.
Sohel Faruq, a traffic sergeant at Fakirapul said, "They hang around at traffic signals and intersections, looking for cars with items that can be snatched away. They even snatch cellphones and purses
from car passengers if they find the opportunity.”
In last December, Nazneen Khanam, a non-resident Bangladeshi, lost her cellphone to a snatcher at the Gulistan intersection. Nazneen was writing a text message on her phone sitting beside a halfopen window while the car was stuck at a traffic signal. A gangling fellow in ragged clothes snatched her mobile and tried to run away.
"It all happened so fast! I
felt like something clawed in my hands and then my mobile phone was gone. The chauffeur ran after the thief and managed to catch him. But the felon had already handed the mobile to someone else,” said Nazneen.
Later Nazneen tried to contact with the person holding her cellphone and told him that she was willing to purchase it. “I told him that the phone had many valuable contact numbers and I would pay him for it if he returned it to me,” she said.
Initially, the felon agreed to return the cellphone for a few thousands taka. But later he had a change of mind and decided not to answer any of Nazneen's calls.
Nazneen lost yet another cellphone a couple weeks later exacdy in the same manner.
It is alleged that police officers, when the come to the scene, actually make things worse for the victims. Anjan Saha, a service provider, describes his experience.
"Once we managed to catch a snatcher while he was trying to scrap the sun shield from my car window. A crowd gathered and beat the thief up. I decided to leave the scene as I was
getting late for my office. Just then a traffic sergeant showed up. He rudely accused me for creating nuisance for him now that he has to deal with the thief," he said.
Rounokul Islam, traffic inspector (DMP, East Zone), ruled out such complaints.
"There are traffic boxes in all the major intersections with a handful of officers always present to monitor the street. If incidents like street thefts catch their attention they will most certainly take appropriate actions," he said.
"If someone feels that the police are creating nuisance for them, it may just be a subjective opinion. I am sure the officer was just trying to help," he said.