Unidentified criminals looted a huge amount of gold ornaments and money by cutting a hole in the wall of a jewellery shop in the Farm View Super Market in the capital’s Farmgate area, yesterday.
The owner of “The Kolpana Jewellers” claimed that 150 tolas (1.75kg) of gold jewellery, mortgaged gold worth Tk14 lakh and Tk7 lakh in cash were taken.
Police said the robbery probably took place between late Friday night and early Saturday morning.
Police picked up four people, including two night guards, for questioning.
Police also suspect the involvement of a next door shopkeeper, who has been missing since the robbery.
Kolpana Jewellers is located on the first floor of the five-storey market. There are 45 other jewellery shops on the floor, and many of the shops have common walls on two or three sides.
A hole of around one square foot was found on the eastern wall of the robbed shop, which has common walls on three sides. Digging equipment was also found in an adjacent shop on the eastern side.
Police and shopkeepers suspect that the robbers entered Kolpana Jewellers from the adjacent shop by cutting through the common wall.
Swapan Pal, owner of the looted shop, told the Dhaka Tribune that he went home after locking up around 8:30pm on Friday. Around 9:30am yesterday, his son, Madhap, opened the shop and found the eastern wall damaged.
In addition to the market’s security guards, the jewellery shop owners have employed two extra night guards for the first floor, Swapan said.
After the shops are closed, night guards Probir Mandal and Ashish Shaha lock the main collapsible gate of the floor and keep the keys with them.
“Nobody is allowed to stay in the shops at night. We do not know how the gold was stolen after all the security measures,” Swapan said.
The guards reportedly told police that they did not hear any breaking sounds while on duty.
Meanwhile, Didarul, the owner of the shop on the eastern side, said he had rented it out to a man named Milon for Tk30,000 per month.
“Last month, I rented that shop to Milon, who is now missing. Milon told me that he would run a mobile phone accessories shop there. He started his business this month,” Didarul said.
Afruzul Haque, assistant commissioner of the DMP’s Tejgaon zone, said they were trying to apprehend Milon.