The Rapid Action Battalion has claimed to have foiled an attempt to rob state-owned Sonali Bank in Dhamrai, on the outskirts of Dhaka.
RAB sources said the robbers had been plotting the heist for three months. A suspected robbers, Masuk, 41, was killed in “gunfight” with RAB yesterday morning when RAB raided a flat located a floor above the bank branch.
Six persons Sabuj, 62, Shila Akhter, 28, Rumena Begum, 25, Riazul Islam, 33, Badsha Miah Dewan, 35, and a 10-year-old boy, were arrested with weapons and machines from there.
A RAB source said Mashuk rented the flat on the second floor of Haji Mohammad Riaz Uddin Plaza posing as RMG workers, our Savar correspondent said. RAB claimed the arrestees had confessed to being involved in previous robberies.
They planned breaking into the bank by drilling a hole on the floor. RAB raided the building yesterday after being tipped off and arrested three men, two woman and a child.
Masudur Rahman, Company Commander of RAB Nabinagar unit, said a third room was found locked from inside. “Masuk opened fire when our team forced broke in but he was fatally wounded in the gunfight. He was rushed to Dhamrai Upazila Health Complex where doctors pronounced him dead.”
The robbers made a hole on the floor, he said adding that drilling tools were found there. RAB handed over the arrestees to police and filed a case. Masud said the 10-year-old boy was not involved in the crime.
RAB-4 Commander Khandkar Lutfar Kabir said they suspected Masuk was involved in other bank robberies, including the recent heist at Gazipur’s Shahjalal Bank branch, our Savar correspondent reported.
