Police arrested four members of a human skeleton theft ring along with 47 human skulls and a large quantity of bones from Tejgaon area in the capital.

The arrestees were identified as Kazi Zahurul Islam alias Soumik, Md Abul Kalam, Asadul Munshi alias Jasim alias Ershad and Md Faisal Ahmed.

The skulls and the bones were kept in plastic shopping bags.

Deputy Commissioner (DC) of Tejgaon Division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) Md Ibne Mizan disclosed the information at a press briefing at the DMP Media Centre on Tuesday noon.

He said special drives are being conducted in six areas under Tejgaon Division since the beginning of the holy Ramadan.

As part of the drive, Kazi Zahurul Islam alias Soumik was detained around 1:45am on March 9 in front of Gate No. 1 of the Monipuripara area. A human skeleton was recovered from his possession, he said.

Based on his information, police conducted another drive around 7:10am the same day in front of Tejgaon College and arrested Md Abul Kalam and Asadul Munshi alias Jasim alias Ershad.

They recovered  two human skulls from them.

Later, acting on information obtained from the arrested persons, police conducted a raid around 3:30pm at the hostel of Sapporo Dental College and Hospital under Uttara West Police Station and arrested Md Faisal Ahmed.

During the raid, police recovered 44 more skulls scattered in Room No. 402 of the hostel.

During preliminary interrogation, police learned that the gang used to dig up graves in different graveyards across the country, including Mymensingh, Gazipur, Sherpur and Jamalpur, and stole human skeletons.

They later cleaned and prepared the bones through chemical processes and sold them to various individuals at high prices.

According to police, the gang used to collect skeletons at field level for Tk 5,000 to Tk 8,000 and sell them for Tk 15,000 to Tk 20,000.

Most of the buyers were reportedly students.

The DC said they usually exhumed bodies about a year after burial and targeted graveyards that were unprotected, lacked guards or CCTV cameras and had less public movement.

Police said Md Abul Kalam is an accused in 21 cases filed at different police stations across the country, while Asadul Munshi alias Jasim alias Ershad is an accused in two cases.

A  case has been filed with Tejgaon Police Station and the arrested persons will be produced before the court on Tuesday, police added.