Police have arrested five people, including a police sub-inspector, a TV journalist and a Krishak League leader, over a major gold robbery on the Dhaka–Chattogram Highway in Gajaria upazila of Munshiganj.
Police also recovered about 95 bhori gold, Tk 13.5 lakh, a microbus, police uniforms, handcuffs and a walkie-talkie.
Superintendent of Police Md Menhajul Alam said, “The robbery took place on December 7. Two gold traders were travelling by bus from Dhaka to Chattogram when robbers wearing police uniforms stopped them. The robbers handcuffed them, took them off the bus and forced them into a microbus.”
The victims were beaten, and the gang looted 145 bhori gold ornaments, two mobile phones, cash, two ATM cards and a national ID card.
A bhori (11.664 grams) of 22-carat gold is currently priced at over Tk 2.1 lakh in Bangladesh, making the robbery worth nearly Tk 3 crore.
The traders were later left tied up in Kaliganj upazila of Gazipur.
Using technology, the Munshiganj DB police identified the suspects and arrested five of them from Tuesday to Wednesday.
Police first arrested the microbus driver Zakir Hossain from Dhaka’s Kafrul and recovered 10 bhori gold and Tk 7 lakh from him.
Soon after, Sub-Inspector Akhtaruzzaman Munshi was arrested from the third floor of the same building.
Police recovered 43 bhori gold, handcuffs, a walkie-talkie and three sets of police uniforms from him.
Based on their information, police arrested another suspect, Romjan, from Mirpur–Shah Ali area and recovered 20 bhori gold, a gold-measuring scale, an ID card and Tk 5 lakh.
Another suspect named Romjan Ali, was arrested from Harirampur in Manikganj with 13 bhori gold and Tk 1.5 lakh.
According to police, one member of the gang had already sold part of the stolen gold to Islam Jewellers in Mirpur.
The shop owner, Ismail Hossain, has also been arrested.
SI Akhtaruzzaman is a member of Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Special Branch, Romjan works as a reporter for the private television channel ‘My TV’, and another Romjan Ali is a leader of Bangladesh Krishak League in Manikganj.
The Superintendent of Police further said, “Police are trying to arrest one more fugitive suspect and are continuing efforts to recover the rest of the stolen gold.”