Nine men have been arrested for robbing and killing a man inside a bus in the capital.
The incident took place on the night of October 5 when a gang of robbers cornered Lashkar Rabiul Islam, a man travelling from Nabinagar to Mirpur by bus, inside the vehicle.
The gang killed Rabiul inside the bus and dumped his body next to the Savar Boliarpur Jamuna Natural Park.
The arrestees are Basir Mollah, 42, leader of the gang, Sheikh Hafeez, 35, Md Anwar Hossain, 35, Md Amir Hossain, 28, Md Al Amin,28, Jewel, 32, Md Naeem, 22, Tapan, 28, and Nazmul, 30.
Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Banaj Kumar Majumder was speaking about the arrests at a press conference at the PBI headquarters on Thursday.
The PBI official said Lashkar Rabiul Islam, a hotel owner on Zoo Road, was set upon by the robbers after boarding a bus in Nabinagar to travel to Mirpur.
Rabiul initially resisted the robbers when it seemed that the bus had many other passengers in it. But it soon became apparent that all the other passengers were members of the robbers’ gang.
Infuriated at his resistance, the robbers killed Rabiul inside the bus and dumped his body next to the Savar Boliarpur Jamuna Natural Park.
This is the first time that a robbery has been reported with a bus full of robbers, said Banaj Kumar.
Basir Mollah, the leader of the gang, had already made a confessional statement in court, he added.
Basir revealed that he had been involved in robbery for the last 20 years. After spending 26 months in jail over a case in Ashulia, he was released three months ago and immediately began committing robbery again.
He, along with 20 to 22 others, would board hired buses to lure unsuspecting passengers into their trap in order to rob them of their money and other valuables.
After robbing them, the gang would drop them off at convenient spots and escape with the bus.
They frequently robbed people, including cattle traders, in areas near Manikganj and Rajbari.
The gang had rented the particular bus used to rob and kill Rabiul on October 4 from Nirala Paribahan.
Basir also revealed that when Rabiul's mother called on his cell phone at around midnight, she was told that her son was dead and that his body had been dumped in Hemayetpur.
Following the call, they proceeded to break Rabiul's mobile phone and throw it in a drain.
After recovering Rabiul's body on October 6, the police sent it to Suhrawardy Medical College morgue for autopsy as that of an unidentified person. Upon receiving the news, Rabiul's family identified the body, said the PBI chief.
The PBI then started investigating the murder.
Banaj Kumar further stated that the names of several others involved in the murder had been found. An operation was underway to arrest them.
