Lifting of CNG-run auto rickshaw has gone up alarmingly in the country in recent times as organised gangs outsmart law enforcers with newer techniques.
Having been backed by unscrupulous law enforcers, political leaders and notorious criminals, these lifter rackets not only outsmart but have also gone out of control of the law enforcement agencies, sources have said.
According to police and Rapid Action Battalion, a total of 314 auto rickshaw lifting gangs are actively operating around the country.
The members of these gangs are given training on lifting and how to sell the mugged vehicles back to the owners for higher sums.
Sources said some 20 auto rickshaw drivers had been killed in the last year by lifting gangs but the law enforcers had neither managed to arrest anyone nor locate the gangs involved with the killings.
Monirul Islam, joint-commissioner of Detective Branch of police, told the Dhaka Tribune that the law enforcers had been trying their best to bring these criminals to book and trace the lifter kingpins.
“Recently, we have arrested members of some gangs. But they get bail from courts one way or the other and resume lifting. We have already prepared a list of the criminals who work in the capital. We will soon set up check posts at different points in the capital and start raids,” he said.
According to various sources, most wanted criminals Shahadat and Bikash are the biggest “sponsors” of these lifting rackets. Besides, influential political leaders, including a number from the ruling party’s youth front Jubo League are also involved with these rackets.
Sohel, a Jubo League leader from Keraniganj near Dhaka, Renu, a female presidium member of the organisation, and Mahmud Hossain, another Jubo League leader from Savar, are allegedly involved with the rackets.
Sources said some of the active lifting rackets include Babul Mollah and Kana Shahid groups in the capital’s Uttara and Akkas Mollah and Alim groups in Jatrabari. Besides, similar rackets are also active in the districts of Tangail, Jamalpur, Naogaon, Mymensingh, Netrokona and Sherpur.
Sources also said a number of gangs, consisting mainly of women, also operate in different parts of the country.
The Dhaka Tribune has learnt that these women resort to some really innovative ways to lift the vehicles.
Generally, they would pick up a vehicle by identifying themselves as detective police officers to the drivers. They would pretend to file cases against the driver and even provide fake documents and ask him to collect the vehicle from the office of DB police.
Sometimes, well dressed up women would take ride on an auto rickshaw and after reaching a quiet place, would pretend to be sick and ask the driver to bring a bottle of water or something like that from nearby shops. By the time the driver returned, the women would flee with the vehicle.
At other times, gang members, riding a private car, would come near a CNG auto rickshaw and pretend that the car has malfunctioned and hire that rickshaw. After having gone a little further, the lifter, guised as the passenger, would tell the CNG driver to stop and fetch him a paper that he had mistakenly left back in the car. When the driver would return, the lifter would have made way with the vehicle.
Sources said the lifting rackets would often act like human kidnappers. They would pick up an auto rickshaw and ask for ransom from the owner. Sometimes they would even hold the driver hostage and ask for ransom.
Recently, a group of brokers have surfaced who act as middlemen between the lifters and the auto rickshaw owners for certain payments, popularly known as “commissions.”
Ibrahim, the driver of a CNG that the Dhaka Tribune owns, said recently he had had to pay Tk60,000 through a broker to get an auto rickshaw back as ransom.
He also said the gangs never lifted a CNG twice because they would leave a special mark on the vehicle that they had once picked and got the ransom for.
Bashar Ahmed, a CNG driver from the capital’s Khilgaon area, told the Dhaka Tribune that the brokers would charge double if the missing vehicle was reported to police.
He said the brokers in such cases charged more because they would then have to pay the police members for remaining silent.
ATM Habibur Rahman, director of media and legal wing of RAB, told the Dhaka Tribune that he did not know anything about law enforcers being involved with these gangs.
He claimed that Rab personnel were working closely with the police officials to track these gangs and take necessary actions against them.
