Gangs of muggers who ride around in Premio and Allion cars without number plates, robbing people in upscale areas of the capital, belong to high society and are well educated.
The number of such gangs is not too high. There are five or six active in the capital’s posh areas.
The Dhaka Tribune made an educated guess after this correspondent had talks with a number of intelligence officials and with people who had fallen victim to such muggers.
Earlier, on July 16, the Dhaka Tribune ran a report on such muggings.
Police claimed yesterday that they were able to track down one of the muggers named Apon (28). Apon was killed in an encounter with Detective Branch of police on Friday.
The deputy commissioner of police of Uttara told the Dhaka Tribune that Apon and four of his four used to mug people, by using Premio cars, in different areas of the capital. From the descriptions provided by Tanvir Bashar, the assistant personal secretary of the finance minister, one can make a good guess about the social position of these muggers.
Tanvir Bashar was mugged in front of his house on June 30. It was around 11:45pm. Tanvir had just reached his house (no 73, Dhanmondi 8/A) after meeting some of his friends.
Since the main gate of his house was padlocked, Tanvir yelled at the security guard to open the gate. He suddenly spotted a white car parked in front of his house. A young man, about five feet eight inches tall, got out of the car.
In a soft voice the man said: “Brother, I have something to say to you.” As the man approached him, Tanvir grew suspicious. He asked the man why he was there at so late night and at the same time he yelled at his security guard to open the gate.
As soon as he turned, three other masked young men leaped out of the car. Tanvir asked the security guard to open the gate quickly but the four, aged between 25 and 30, had encircled him by then and warned that if the guard opened the gate, they would open fire.
Helpless and realising that there was no help in sight, Tanvir handed his all valuables over to them.
Tanvir moved in front of the car and found the driver chuckling. Angry, Tanvir asked: “Are you happy now?” The driver bobbed his head up and down and said, “Yes.”
The driver then turned the ignition key and drove away. “As the car shot past me I saw its number plate daubed with white colour,” he said.
Tanvir thinks that these muggers are not from outside his area, since police are always on patrol and it is also impossible for muggers to keep their number plate painted for any length of time.
Abu Bakkar Siddique, officer-in-charge of Dhanmondi police station, told the Dhaka Tribune that these muggers were few in number. He added that they were split into five or six groups in the upscale areas of the capital.
“The description of speaking style, gait and movement of the muggers which we received from the victims are similar. We have studied all the details of the complaints,” he said.
“In primary investigation, we are pretty sure that these muggers belong to high society. We hope that we will be able to bust their hideouts before Eid.”
Monirul Islam, joint commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan police (DMP), told the Dhaka Tribune that criminals mostly use fake number plates and registrations for their vehicles.
“Police have set up checkpoints at strategic points and are conducting drives and raids to catch them,” he said.
Besides, the DMP is setting up cameras to turn the posh areas, one by one, into digital safe zones. As part of the drive it has already set up cameras in Gulshan and Uttara divisions, he said.
Lutful Kabir, deputy commissioner of police of Gulshan Division, said: “We are trying our best to nab the criminals.”