Parvin Aktar, a 60-year-old woman who lives in the capital's RK Mission Road in the capital's Gopibag area, had no idea that she along with other family will be admitted to Dhaka Medical College Hospital after having Sehri prepaired by a member of a notorious dope gang.
“When we woke up, we found ourselves receiving treatment at DMCH as sedatives were mixed with our food during Sehri. The dope gang looted around Tk2 lakh in cash and gold ornaments by breaking open the almirah,” said Parvin's grandson Md Abdul Sami.
Parvin Akter lived with her son Md Uzzal, 40, and two other domestic workers named as Jamirun Begum, 60, and Parul Akter, 30. Sami also told the two housemaids were still in critical condition.
Three days earlier, Parvin brought in another domestic worker, Rani, but did not collect the new maid's identification details. The robbery was preplanned and Rani helped the gang to loot the household,” he claimed.
DMCH police camp in-charge Mojammel Haque confirmed the incident.
Young and beautiful girls are among the criminals
Activities of such dope gangs rise when Ramadan approaches.
In many cases, young and beautiful female members of these dope gangs take work in different households disguised as domestic maids and later rob the household of its valuables by mixing sedatives in food items.
Besides dope gang, a new gang has been active in the capital, who orchestrate a quarrel with people by spitting on them and later rob them of their valuables over the issue.
According to medical and police sources, at least two people were killed and 90 others poisoned after falling prey to such dope gang.
There have been claims that law-enforcing agency had totally failed check dope gangs active in the country. Even when law enforcers manage to arrest members of such criminal rings, most of these criminals manage to come out free on bail due to poor investigation and evidence collection.
Talking to Dhaka Tribune, Julhas, who used to operate a dope gang in capital Old Dhaka’s Mitford area said there were over 50 such groups active in the capital and each group consists at least 6 to 8 members. “In recent times, many gangs include huge number of female members, both young and old, to carry out their criminal activities,” said Julhas.
He also added that most of these female gang members consists of college students, who came to capital for education but failed to continue due to financial constrains.
“We first train them and then divide them into two groups. The beautiful ones are used for deceiving commuters to and from the capital while the rest are used as domestic helps in different households.
“These girls first board a passengers bus and start a conversation with young boys on the bus. They then take the advantage of their beauty and convinces the victim to get off the bus at a designated place or feed them sedatives with other foods during a deep conversation.
In other cases, these girls ask for lifts from passing-by vehicles, mostly where the driver is alone, on highways. In the same way, they manage to dope the driver by feeding something while engaging the driver in a deep conversation.
“These girls can easily fool people as most believe them very easily,” Julhas added.
According to intelligence agencies, dope gangs were especially active in capital's Keraniganj, Tongi, Ashulia, Savar, bus terminals in Sayedabad, Gabtoli, Mohakhali, Sadarghat launch terminal, Demra, Sarulia, Dholaipar, Kataban, Babubazar, Gulistan, Ashulia, Shahabagh, Uttara, FDC gate, Mogbazar, Shyamoli, Shishu Mela, Kachpur, Mohammadpur and Postagola Bridge areas.
Contacted, Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of Detective Branch of Police, told the Dhaka Tribune that special raids and operation were underway to nab all dope gang members and all kind of criminal activities in the capital. “We have already arrested a number of dope gang leaders and members and it would be a continuous process,” he added.
Meanwhile, Chittagong Metropolitan Police has ordered all deputy commissioners (DCs) of all zones of CMP to take action against listed dope gang members ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr.
With a rise in criminals activities of such dope gangs in the port city, CMP Additional Commissioner (Crime and Operation) Banaz Kumar Majumder said they have taken special measures to tackle the activities of these dope gangs.
“We have already ordered all the police stations to conduct rapid drives to nab the listed members of Molom and Ogyan parties [dope gangs],” he said.
“Special police teams have already been deployed in shopping malls and markets, city roads and entry points of the city for regular checking during the Ramadan,” he added..
According to the CMP’s list, there were 103 active gang members under the jurisdiction of 11 police stations out of 16, where 58 have been arrested while 45 others, who are mostly notorious, remain at large.