Members of Rapid Action Battalion on late Tuesday night arrested three members of a gang in connection with a robbery from Dhaka airport’s cargo complex courier unit in the early hours of August 10.
The arrested were gang leader Badrul Alam alias Shyamol and his younger brothers – Foysal Alam Alias Prince and Asifuzzaman Papon.
RAB said the three were arrested from the capital’s Benarashi Palli area in Mirpur around Tuesday midnight.
The arrests were made in connection with a case filed against them for carrying out the robbery and issuing death threat, RAB 1 Commander Lt Col Tuhin Mohammad Masud said in a press briefing held at the elite force’s office yesterday.
They will be handed over to airport police, he added.
On August 10, eight to ten robbers looted 15 cartons from the airport’s customs cargo unit around 2:30am containing different products worth around Tk50 crore. According to the case statement, the robbers beat up the assistant customs commissioner and revenue officials and threatened to kill them if they did not comply. They snatched away the goods but left behind three cartons, the statement added.
RAB sources said the three cartons recovered by airport officials had cameras, mobiles and other equipments worth around Tk2 crore.
Following the robbery, airport police on August 10 afternoon recovered the looted goods from the office of SMI Courier Services in Uttara which is owned by Shyamol.
Sources said police also recovered two illegal private cars from his residence in the city’s Siddheswari area.
On August 11, Assistant Revenue Officer Shahjahan Ali filed a case against eight people with Airport police station accusing them of putting bar on government duty and issuing death threats.
Sources in the law enforcement agencies claimed the gang leader Shyamol and his brother Prince were leaders of the ruling party Awami League’s youth wing Juba League.
RAB officials said the video footage collected from the cargo unit showed that Shyamol and Prince led the gang during the robbery. The arrested were engaged in such crimes since long and as Shyamol had a courier service, it was easy for him enter in the cargo unit.
Operation Officer of RAB 1 ASP Muhit Kabir Serniabat told the Dhaka Tribune that some of the gang members were clearing and forwarding (CNF) agents of the airport.
The RAB officer said the arrested mentioned of engaging in altercations with similar other groups at the airport. When asked about the groups, he said some information Shymol provided seemed fake and misleading, so the RAB was investigating and will search if any such groups exist.
Meanwhile, investigation officer of the case, Airport police Sub-Inspector Nur Alam said police arrested six people in connection with similar incidents earlier.
The arrested were Zahangir Alam, Shourav Hossain Khan, Kazi Anisur Rahman, Munna, Joardar Ali, and Jasim.
