Detective Branch of Chittagong Metropolitan Police detained five members of the notorious ring of muggers, “Hamka Group,” including its ring leader, on Thursday night from the port city’s Tiger Pass area.
During the drive the DB men also seized a lighter gun, two rounds of cartridges, five knives and two CNG-run auto-rickshaws from their possession. Three ring members – Dhakaiya Alamgir, Kamal and Bedi Islam – managed to flee, said a DB press release.
The five arrested, Md Ujjal Sheikh, alias Hat Kata Jahangir, 29, the leader of the “Hamka Group”, and his accomplices, Moin Uddin, alias Moin, 22, Mohammad Babul, 30, Jahangir Alam, 32, and Raju, alias Kashem, 30, were handed over to Kotwali police and a case was lodged with the police station in this regard, added the release.
Acting on a tip-off, a DB team led by its Assistant Commissioner (North) Moin Uddin conducted a drive in the area around 9:30pm and caught the five when they were preparing to go out mugging, said Babul Akhter, additional deputy commissioner (ADC) of DB in CMP.
In primary interrogation, the ringleader, Jahangir, the accused in six cases lodged with different police stations in the city, said he and Dhakaiya Alamgir, who was on the run, led the “Hamka Group.”
Alamgir supplied arms and manpower for the gang, Bedi Islam worked as a source for collecting information about businessmen, jewelers and other rich men, Moin stored the supplied arms and ammunition in different shanties the city and Babul, Kashem and Jahangir were CNG-run auto-rickshaw drivers whose vehicles they used for mugging, the ring leader said.
They used to roam across the city, dividing into two groups, and converged on a targeted spot for mugging, Jahangir added.
He also said some of the ring members had been arrested earlier, and when they got out of the jail, they again got involved with the ring to make some quick money.
Jahangir had been mugging for 10-12 years and he had been behind bars for 5-6 years. He came to the port city with his father about 19 years ago and joined the then notorious mugger Biplob, by whom he was paid a wage to be a helping hand to carry arms and ammunition.
