Dividing into separate groups, suspended officials of law enforcement agencies such as the police and RAB are carrying out abductions, muggings and other crimes.
The Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has learned about the existence and operation of at least 10 such groups, which are being advised and directed by suspended law enforcers.
DMP Joint Commissioner Monirul Islam, also the chief of DB, revealed this at a briefing at the Media and Community Centre of DMP in Dhaka yesterday.
“DB teams have arrested several such groups over the last six-seven years. But none have ever been punished because they managed bail from the courts. So, they commit the same crime after coming out,” Monirul said.
The briefing was organised following the arrest of five fake policemen in Ramna and Tejgaon areas of Dhaka early yesterday. The arrested are Shiraj Howladher, Abul Hossain, Md Sahabuddin, Forhad Gazi, Abdus Samad, Nannu Mia, Tara Mia and Md Arif.
Of them, Abdus Samad was suspended from the Army in 2005 for violating discipline.
The DB chief also said: “The fake police gangs are well-trained and experts in their fields. Last night, when detectives were trying to catch them in Tejgaon, the fake policemen chased the real officials back. Labelling them as fake, the actual fake ones even tried to beat up the detectives.”
The gang used several white microbuses. One had a sticker on the windshield saying “On emergency work of the Home Ministry.” The other vehicles had “DB police” stickers on their windshields.
Yesterday, detectives seized handcuffs, wireless sets, and batons from their possession.
Recently, this gang has been targeting people coming out of banks with cash. They would first take one or two bank officials in confidence, collect information on people who had withdrawn large cash amounts from certain branches of banks. Based on that information, they would follow the person carrying the cash and snatch the money at opportune moments. For that, they would wait in their microbuses right outside the offices of those bank branches.
In primary interrogation, the arrestees have confessed their crimes saying they had been involved in this for four years.
