Stepping onto the streets of the capital with considerable amount of money may turn fatal as there could be someone on a motorbike watching you and might mug you. If you are lucky, they would probably leave you alive to tell the sorry tale. So, think twice, be careful or you may invite the fate of tax lawyer Nazir Ahmed.
On January 22 morning, the tax lawyer and his son Asif Ahmed were shot and robbed just a few yards from their house in Shantinagar by muggers on motorbikes. The father and son were going to the Motijheel branch of Sonali Bank to deposit Tk 11 lakh.
The muggers shot Nazir in the leg before snatching the bag of money and then sho t Asif in the right leg as he tried to run away.
Law enforcers are yet to detect the muggers and recover the money.
On February 6, muggers shot two officials of a private firm and snatched Tk 23 lakh from them on Elephant Road. They too used a motorbike for the getaway.
The victims had just drawn the money from a bank. They were about to get on to their car kept in front of the bank when the muggers attacked them.
Sources in the Detective Branch (DB) of police said
they have recovered Tk 1.26 lakh of the snatched amount and arrested three people in this connection.
Over the last two months, an alarming number of mugging incidents took place in the capital. The gravest ones were committed by the muggers on bikes.
Desperate for a remedy, Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Benazir Ahmed in February directed all the eight deputy commissioners of crime division to take measures so that banks save the footage caught on their CCTV cameras, said a detective.
Besides, law enforcers have intensified vigilance in the capital to track down biker gangs, he added.
Several detectives admitted that preventing such gangs is tough as they mug people leaving almost no clue behind and make swift escape through narrow lanes on motorbikes. Police vehicles are not suitable for this kind of chase.
Assistant Commissioner (AC) Golam Mostofa Russel of Snatching and Robbery Prevention Team of DB said, "The motorbike gangs usually target those who arrive in banks in cars. One of the gang members keeps watch on the target, sometimes inside the bank, and then informs his cohorts over the phone about how the person is carrying his money out of the bank.”
The other members of the gang intercept the target outside, snatch the money and speed away on motorbikes, added the AC.
As for the incident on Elephant Road, one of the arrested muggers, Shimul, went inside the bank, kept an eye on the private firm officials and informed his associates outside over the phone, he said, adding that Shimul's cohorts Sagar and Sultan shot the victims just to create panic and make an easy exit.
The AC said they had gone to the bank to examine the CCTV footage but the bank authorities had no footage whatsoever. If the bank authorities concerned monitor their clients they will be able to detect those who enter the bank in guise of a customer.
He said so far they have traced seven to eight such gangs.
Another high-placed DB official, preferring anonymity, said the DMP authorities may introduce several teams equipped with motorbikes to curb such crime.