Robbery assault on police in Dhanmondi, 6 arrested
A brutal robbery took place in a six-storey building in the alley of Viqarunnisa School on Dhanmondi Road 8 in the capital on Wednesday morning. A group of people identified as RAB beat up and tied up security personnel and entered the building’s jewelry shop and several businesses, looting about 3.6 million taka and gold ornaments. At one stage, they also attacked the police.
Police arrested four people from the scene. They are Farhad Bin Mosharraf (33), Yasin Hasan (22), Mobasher Ahmed (23), Wakil Mahmud (26). Later, two more people named Abdullah (32) and Sumon (29) were arrested on Thursday. However, some of the policemen were beaten up and fled. Police said that the three arrested people are students. A police officer said that the arrested people are active members of an organized gang of robbers. They carried out the robbery by posing as law enforcement agencies and various intelligence agencies. Three of the arrested persons are students of a private university.
The police have seized two black jackets with RAB written on them, three black caps with RAB written on them, a microbus, five mobile phones, an iron chisel, and an old red sniper rifle used in the robbery.
This information was given at a press conference organized at the Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Media Center on Minto Road today. DMP Ramna Division Deputy Commissioner Md. Masud Alam said that the six-story house belongs to a person named MA Hannan Azad. He has a duplex flat on the fifth and sixth floors of the house. He has a business called ‘Alankar Niketan’ Jewelers in that house. SM Sourcing has offices on the ground floor, third and fourth floors of the house. Apart from that, there is a consultancy office on the second floor of the building. Yesterday, at around 4:45 am, a group of robbers arrived in front of the house in three microbuses and a private car. They introduced themselves as RAB members to the security guards on duty at the main gate. They said that a magistrate was with them. Police officer Masud Alam said that the security guards were asked to open the main gate of the house after the raid. Some of them were wearing jackets with RAB written on them. At that time, the security guard on duty asked them to wait until morning. Then the robbers abused the security guards. They threatened to kill them if they did not open the gate of the house. Some of them forcibly opened the gate. Then they entered the house and tied up the security guard, the house caretaker and the driver with ropes. They broke down the gate of the ground floor office, beat up the peon there and threatened to kill him and snatched 45,100 taka in cash from him. Then the robbers went to the third floor and broke down the gate of the SM Sourcing office. At that time, hearing the sound of the gate being broken, three office assistants of SM Sourcing who were on the fourth floor came down to the third floor. The robbers then detained them, beat them up and asked them to give them the keys to the office and the house. At one stage, they forcibly took the keys from the office assistants, opened the door of the third-floor office and entered inside. They broke open the office drawer and looted Tk 2.2 million in cash and vandalized various office furniture. At that time, another group of robbers broke open the door of the fourth-floor office and entered inside and broke open the cupboard and looted Tk 1.3 million in cash. Then, they broke open the door of the fifth and sixth-floor duplex flat of the owner, M.A. Hannan Azad, entered inside and took two and a half tons of gold ornaments including earrings and chains and Tk 1.5 million in cash. They tried to force M.A. Hannan down and put him in a car. Masud Alam said that after receiving the information, a patrol team from Dhanmondi Police Station went to the house. M.A. Hannan was rescued by the police. At that time, the robbers attacked the police with chisels and ranges. Several police members were injured in their attack. Then, with the help of people nearby, the police arrested the members of the robbery gang, Farhad Bin Mosharraf, Yasin Hasan, Mobasher Ahmed and Wakil Mahmud.
A case has been filed at Dhanmondi Police Station against the eight people who were arrested and escaped in this incident and 10-12 unidentified people. Abdullah and Sumon were arrested in connection with the robbery in a raid conducted in the Hazaribagh Police Station area this morning.
