A suspected robber was killed on Saturday when a cocktail exploded in his hand during an attempted robbery on engine-run trawlers on the River Meghna at Gazaria upazila of Munshiganj.
Local people caught two of his accomplices, beat them up and later handed them over to police, while two villagers sustained injuries in the robber gang鈥檚 attack.
The identities of the deceased and his two accomplices could not be known till filing the report at about 9:30pm. The injured villagers were Alam, 37, and Sohag, 16, both from Bhati Balaki village of Gazaria upazila.
According to local people, a gang of robbers on a speedboat first tried to loot several anchored engine-run trawlers, also known as bulkheads, at about 3:00am on Saturday, but retreated after encountering resistance from fishermen.
However, at about 7:30am, they returned on a trawler and a speedboat and as villagers rushed to resist them, the robbers fired six blank rounds and hurled cocktails at them to create panic. One of the cocktails, however, exploded in the hand of a gang member on the trawler, blowing off his wrist.
Later, five to six robbers on the speedboat managed to flee, while local people caught three others from the trawler after chasing them down near Char Kishoreganj.
Saleh Ahmed Pathan, in-charge of the Kalgachhia river police outpost in Narayanganj, said that as per information the robbers hijacked a trawler from the Ananda Bazar area of Sonargaon upazila in Narayanganj and using the stolen trawler and a speedboat, several of them went to Bhati Balaki area for robbery.
鈥楾hree robbers were caught by local people, beaten up and handed over to us. All three were in critical condition. They were sent to Narayanganj General Hospital for treatment, where one of them died. Two unexploded cocktails were also recovered from the spot,鈥� he added.
The hospital鈥檚 resident doctor, Md Jahirul Islam, said that three were brought to the hospital and one of them died.
Superintendent of river police for Narayanganj region Md Alamgir Hossain said that efforts were on to identify the identities of the deceased and injured.