Victims said that youth and women are involved in these acts, and have found their bags to be opened and wallets and purses gone. The latest addition to mugging has been cellphone snatching.

An Hons final year student Tasnuva (not her real name) said that she went to Bakushah market to make a copy of her books. "Suddenly I found my bag open and my purse gone. I then realized that there had been a woman hovering around me and I am sure that she took it," she said.

Students who live on the campuses of these institutions do not file complaints with the police for fear that if the culprits find out their lives will be in danger.

"We do not want to risk our lives by complaining as we are all by ourselves. It is better for us to be tight-lipped about such incidents and bear the losses," said Shima, an Eden College student.

Passers-by sometimes get hold of these muggers and beat them up thoroughly, without any police involvement and release them, said another student from the same college.

"A few days ago, a probable drug addict was beaten up by the local people when he snatched a gold chain of a woman on a rickshaw. Hearing screams, the people in the surrounding areas caught the culprit, beat him up severely and let him free," said Kalam, who worked at a photocopy booth.

When asked why the man was not handed over to the police, Kalam said that the police would do nothing. On the contrary, another shop owner at Nilkhet said that these culprits feel secure when they are with the police, because they know that they will be released within hours.

But police sources said if the muggers are caught on the job, they are sent to court to be tried under the speedy trial tribunal.

"However, we can't arrest them without any specific complaint. A case must be filed first," said Sayd Foyz Ahmad, second officer of the Dhanmondi police station.

Records show that, in the last six months, only 31 cases had been filed under the Nilkhet jurisdiction, which includes the Balaka Cinema Hall, BCS quarters, Babupura slum, Bakushah market and Institute of Cost and Management (ICMAB), but not a single complaint had made against mugging.

The Dhanmondi police however, said they were not in a position to completely clear the area of such incidents, as they did not have sufficient manpower. "We work with only 90 officers, but there are over 100,000 people that roam the streets of Nilkhet," said Ahmad.

"People involved in mugging are mostly drug addicts, and sometimes it is risky to arrest such people. Most of them are weak and could succumb to these weaknesses. When deaths occur in our custody, it is very embarrassing for us," Ahmad added.

Even public health care centres do not open their doors to addicts, Ahmad explained. So we are left with no choice but to release these culprits if and when they are arrested, he said.

Unemployed youths from Kamrangir Char, Mohammadpur Beri Badh (embankment), Hazaribagh, Demra and other areas are involved in such activities. The Babupura slum adjacent to the market is a den of drug traders and addicts, said a resident of Mohammadpur.