Police have recovered the phone of Planning Minister MA Mannan, which was snatched from his car over one and a half months ago.
“The phone was recovered late on Sunday. Five people have been arrested,” confirmed Deputy Commissioner Sazzadur Rahman of the Dhaka metro police (DMP) to Dhaka Tribune.
The arrestees have been identified as, Sagir, Sumon Mia, Zakir, Hamid Ahmed, Shohag alias Arif and Jibon.
Police said that they recovered the minister's phone while investigating a case filed with Dhanmondi police station over a hijacking incident in Dhaka on July 12.
Law enforcers first nabbed Sagir and Sumon after identifying them from CCTV footage.
Later, they arrested Jakir, Shohag, and Jibon, following the information provided by Sagir and Sumon.
Police recovered 10 phones including the minister's iPhone, a motorcycle, and a laptop from their possession.
According to Deputy Commissioner Sazzadur Rahman, Shohag is the mastermind of this whole operation.
“He usually unlocks the phones by bypassing the apple IDs of the original users.
“He was arrested from his Adabar home with the seized laptops and other electronic devices,” the senior DMP official added.
Planning Minister Mannan’s phone was snatched on the evening of May 30 at a traffic stop in Dhaka’s Bijoy Sarani.
A member of the minister’s security detail chased the snatcher, but failed, Mannan told the media later.
“The windows of my car were rolled down. I was on my phone when suddenly a mugger snatched it and quickly fled the scene,” he said.
The minister was on his way home from his office in Agargaon.
