Living with her maternal uncle in the Pallabi area of Mirpur Section-11, Runa 22, responded to a knock on the door of their second floor apartment. The security guard of the building asked her to open the door.

As soon as she opened the door, three armed robbers confronted her. The gunmen had forced the guard at gunpoint to persuade her to open the door. They then entered the house and started ransacking it.

As the robbers looked for valuables in the house, Humayun, the son of the homeowner wrestled down one of the assailants. The other two immediately opened fire. Runa was shot in the chest while Humayun received serious injuries to his neck. The criminals then made their way out unchallenged.

Toffazzal Hossain, the owner of the house said that Runa died with a bullet in her chest on the way to Dhaka Medical Collage Hospital. "My son Humayun Kabir is now fighting for his life at the hospital," he said.

Over the last few months similar incidents of household robberies have risen alarmingly in the city. Armed gangs of criminals in different parts of the city are conducting household robberies almost every day. Though, currently, Police Headquarters have identified Mirpur as the city's most crime prone area.

As soon as operation "Clean Heart" came to an end, criminals returned to their activities without much resistance from police, sources said. Moreover, in the last 19 months some 42,000 alleged criminals have been released from different jails. Many of these freed men were accused of committing robberies, muggings, and other antisocial activities.

Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) sources said, during the months between May and June seven household-robberies occurred in the city's different areas. Meanwhile, 96 petty thefts and 28 cases of vandalism were recorded in police files. However, sources said, because robbery is a serious crime, many cases are recorded in police files as 'petty theft' or 'vandalism' by dishonest police officials in order to avoid responsibility.

Police sources said criminal activities are likely to increase. They also said that current crime figures recorded at different police stations were only those of reported cases, but there are many crimes, including extremely serious ones, which are never reported to the police.

According to reports in the national dailies, in June at least 31 robberies occurred in the city. In most of the cases the robbers were armed and they forced house owners inside bathrooms or other rooms at gunpoint.

Meanwhile, a report of Mass-line Media Centre (MMC), a Non-government organization, shows that 850 robberies occurred in the country from January to June, while 2,659 were wounded. MMC has compiled the report from news items published in six national dailies.

Early last month, about eight robbers wearing black masks ransacked three apartments in Sidhyshari and made away with Tk 25 lakh and 120 bhori gold ornaments. In the first week of June five robberies took place at different areas of the city.

A businessman in Tejgaon said that the increasing incidents of robberies prove that the law and order situation has significantly deteriorated. "Law enforcing agencies have not taken a single step to prevent such incidents," he said. On June 26 he himself fell victim to the worsening crime situation in the city as his own house was robbed in Tejgaon. The armed felons made away with Tk four lakh in cash, ornaments and other valuables.

The Inspector General (IG) of police Shahudul Haque refused to comment on the state of law and order saying, "I am unable to make any comment on this situation."

Police said that gangs of hoodlums, mostly with homemade weapons and some with modern arms such as pistols and rifles, have virtually taken over all the small and large localities of the city. Politically motivated transfers of skilled police officers have largely contributed to the rise in crimes. Moreover, interference by politically influential individuals has also played a role in the worsening situation.