The police have arrested seven people, including two members of Dhaka district Detective Branch and three members of the Rapid Action Battalion, for their alleged involvement in looting Tk 65 lakh from a gold trader in Sreenagar upazila of Munshiganj while posing as DB officers.
The arrested DB members are Helal Uddin and Shariat Ullah Shawon, while the RAB personnel are Farid, Mizan, and Mukidul, all serving under RAB-10 CPC-2. All five have been suspended from service, the police said.
The two others held are microbus driver Kabir Hossain and Rabiul, a friend of DB member Shawon.
The police also seized the microbus used in the robbery, confirmed Munshiganj Superintendent of Police Muhammad Shamsul Alam Sarkar on Wednesday.
Among the three detained RAB members, Farid and Mizan, who are members of the army, have been handed over to military authorities, the police sources said.
According to Sreenagar police station sources, on the morning of November 7, the suspects identifying themselves as DB personnel intercepted gold trader Akash Asim near Tin Dokan Bazar in Ranikhali Union and looted Tk 65 lakh and a mobile phone.
Following the incident, a case was filed at Sreenagar police station, with sub-inspector Moazzem Hossain assigned to investigate.
The Munshiganj District DB police also launched a parallel probe, reviewing more than 50 CCTV footage clips from the Dhaka-Mawa Expressway to trace the vehicle used in the crime.
After identifying the microbus, the police conducted a raid in Savar and arrested the driver, Kabir Hossain.
Based on his information, the two DB and three RAB members, along with Shawon鈥檚 friend Rabiul, were subsequently detained.
Sreenagar police station officer-in-charge Md Nazmul Huda said the police personnel Helal Uddin, Shariat Ullah Shawon, Mukidul, driver Kabir Hossain, and Rabiul are currently on remand in connection with the dacoity case.
Dhaka District North DB officer-in-charge Jalal Uddin confirmed the arrests, saying, 鈥楶reliminary evidence indicates their involvement, and legal action has been taken accordingly.鈥�
A leader of the Savar Microbus Owners鈥� Association, seeking anonymity, alleged that some DB personnel had long been forcibly renting vehicles for criminal activities and had previously used such tactics in similar robberies.
A senior Munshiganj police officer said that through extensive technological analysis, investigators identified the group, adding that the involvement of law enforcement members has embarrassed the police administration.