The detective branch of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) said that the robbers were forced to leave some of the looted money in the trunk due to shortage of bags to carry it.
DB chief Additional Commissioner Harun Or Rashid said this at a press conference at DMP Media Centre on Sunday.
He said that multiple teams of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) detective Mirpur division and detective Uttara division have arrested eight people in connection with the robbery of Dutch-Bangla Bank. On Saturday, they were arrested through raids in Dhaka and Sunamganj based on intelligence information.
Those arrested from Dhaka are - Md Sanwar Hasan, 28, Md Imon alias Milan, 33, Md Akash Madbar, 25, and Sagar Madbar, 22. Those arrested from Sunamganj are- Md Badrul Alam, 33, Md Mizanur Rahman, 20, Md Sanai Mia, 28, and Md Enamul Haque Badsha, 26.
In the initial interrogation, they said that they had two sacks and five bags with them. After filling them with money, they ran away leaving a box with money as there were no more bags or sacks to fill.
On Saturday, during the arrest, detectives recovered Tk2,53,98,500. A total of Tk6,43,48,500 has been recovered so far.
DB chief Harun Or Rashid said a person named Sanwar Hasan was arrested from Banani and Tk1,14,51,000 was recovered from him.
Another person named Md Imon alias Milon was arrested from the same area. Later, Tk32,47,500 was also recovered from his house in Joar Sahara area.
Moreover, two persons named Akash and Sagar were arrested from Uttara in Dhaka Metropolitan area. At that time, Tk1,07,00,000 and the private car used in crime were recovered from their house.
In addition, four other people have been arrested in the operation of another team in Sunamganj area.
How it happened
Referring to the initial interrogation of the arrested, Additional Commissioner Harun Or Rashid said that on Wednesday, they hired a microbus saying they were going to Sylhet. On Thursday, when the driver of the microbus reached the Kurmitola passenger camp at 5:30am, the accused tied his hands and feet and made him unconscious. Later, the accused took control of the vehicle and sat down in Mirpur DOHS area with the intention of looting the money.
Mentioning that the robbers were aware of the details of the vehicle carrying money, the DMP chief said: “They followed the vehicle to a secluded place where at one point, they collided with the vehicle and got into an argument with the driver. Later, they took control of the vehicle with the money.”
From there, they took the car with the money to the 300 feet area, he said, adding: “On the way, they dropped five people who were in charge of carrying the money. They filled up two sacks and three bags with money leaving the rest.”
He said: “They changed clothes in the vehicle and left the place. While leaving, they left a big bag of money on the driver's seat. The unconscious driver behind the car recovered and kept the bag with him.”
Later, according to the confession of the driver and his brother, the money was recovered from their house, the DB chief added.
He further said that the accused have been kept in remand for 10 days and they would be interrogated further.
Negligence of security team
Meanwhile, the intelligence officers said that there is negligence of the organization in charge of transportation in this incident.
The officials said the review of the incident shows that during the transportation of the money, the institution had its own security system. There was no security personnel with weapons for guarding. Most of the time money is transported in this way which is not a secure way of transportation. Also, the security agency did not inform the local police while transporting the money.
In this regard, the DB is conducting its operation.
DB officials said that the operation to arrest the criminals involved in the robbery and recovering of the remaining money is ongoing.
Detectives had recovered around Tk9 crore of the Tk11.25 crore that was stolen from a private security agency's van earlier Thursday.
Members of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Detective Branch had recovered three boxes containing Tk9 crore from Uttara, DB chief Additional Commissioner Harun Or Rashid told reporters later in the evening.
The vehicle of a security agency carrying cash to refill DBBL ATMs in Savar was robbed of around Tk11.25 crore in Dhaka's Turag area at noon.
Planned robbery
Terming the robbery planned, Detective Branch chief Additional Commissioner Harun Or Rashid said the robbers had been checking out the transfer of money by Money Plant Link Pvt Ltd.
Earlier in the day, Turag police station OC Moudud Hawlader said a group of armed people intercepted the vehicle transporting money for Dutch Bangla Bank ATMs when its officials were heading towards Savar after collecting the cash from the bank's office.
The gang had robbed them at gunpoint, claimed the police officer, adding that CCTV footage of the spot was being reviewed to arrest the perpetrators.
