Police have arrested several members of two mugging rings from different areas of the port city who had been long using call girls to lure victims into their trap.
Acting on a tip-off, police conducted a drive at Block- A of Halishahar Residential Area on Sunday night and nabbed Mohmmad Jamshed, 24, the leader of a notorious eight-member fraud gang, and three of his accomplices.
According to police, Jamshed used Shahnaz, an alleged prostitute, to form relationships with targeted victims over phone and lure them into meeting her. When the meeting was confirmed, he and his cohorts would rob all kinds of valuables from the victim when they arrived at the meeting venue.
“Police also found a light gun, two cartridges, two machetes, a knife and four mobile sets from their possessions,” Halishahar police Officer-In-Charge (OC) Shahjahan Kabir told the Dhaka Tribune.
He also added that Jamshed used to collect contact numbers of wealthy bachelors and gave them to Shahnaz.
Shahjahan also said Jamshed collected the mobile numbers of such solvent persons who are single and provided the numbers to Shahnaz.
Other arrested members of the gang were Mohammad Khokon, 24, Al Amin, 28, and Khorshed Alam, 42.
“Shahnaz used to convince the victims to meet her at her flat, which was actually owned by Khorshed, where Jamhed, Khokon and Al Amin remained standby to loot everything from the victim at gun point,” he added.
Arrested Jamshed told Dhaka Tribune that he met Shahnaz at Karim Hotel in the port city few years ago when he formed the gang. “Two days ago, we looted Tk9,500 and four smartphones from two readymade garment workers,” he said.
Another five-member fraud gang was busted from a flat in Cosmopolitan Residential Area early yesterday.
“The arrested gang members, Jobaida Akhter Joya, Sumona Akhter Shila, Upol Chowdhury, Saidul Saimun and Atikur Rahman Sohel, had been luring victims using their female members and mugged them when they came to meet her,” said Panchlaish police station OC Abu Jafor Mohammad Omar Faruk.
Babul Akhter, additional deputy commissioner of Detective Branch of Chittagong Metropolitan Police, said the gang rented several flats at residential areas of the city and used its female members to lure local unmarried service holders into meeting them there.Three cases were filed in this regards.