Rab man among 7 held for looting covered van
Staff Correspondent
Demra police on Friday night arrested a Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) corporal, a retired army man and five others on charge of hijacking a covered van and looting electronic appliances and apparels worth around Tk 73 lakh.Rab corporal Bazlur Rashid, retired army sergeant Shaheen and the other arrestees confessed to have committed the crime, police said. In a joint drive, police and Rab have recovered the hijacked van and most of the looted goods and continued their hunt for the rest. Five people including Bazlur posing as Rab members hijacked the covered van laden with 26 air-conditioners (ACs) worth about Tk 39 lakh and fabrics worth around Tk 34 lakh at Rayerbagh in Demra at about 6:00am on Wednesday. Bazlur was wearing a Rab jacket at the time. As part of the pre-planned crime, a member of the gang got into the covered van of a transport agency -- Mrs Jockey -- in Chittagong and supplied information to them over mobile phone. As the vehicle reached Rayerbagh, the gang members intercepted it and forcibly took the driver away. Another group then drove the van off the spot and looted the ACs and apparels. They abandoned the vehicle in Rupganj under Narayanganj and police recovered it . On information from the van driver, police and Rab-10 personnel started a joint drive and arrested Bazlur from his house in Demra on Friday night. The law enforcers also hauled some Rab informers and quizzed them along with Bazlur. "At one stage of the night-long grilling, Rab Corporal Bazlur admitted his involvement in the looting," said Investigation Officer of the case Sub-inspector of Demra police Humayun Kabir. Acting on Bazlur's statement, police and Rab later arrested Shaheen from his Janata Housing residence at Mirpur. Police arrested two other members of the gang --Didar and Anwar from Tongi-- and recovered 22 looted ACs from a warehouse at Ashulia. They also held three others. The joint team of law enforcers recovered many of the looted apparels from a house at Rupshi in Narayanganj. "We're still continuing our drive and hope to recover all the looted goods from the area," IO Humayun said when contacted last night. Director of Rab-10 Lt Colonel Manikur Rahman said Corporal Bazlur Rashid was on a 21-day leave and was supposed to join his duty on July 26. "Bazlur confessed his involvement in the looting and he will be punished as per rules," he told The Daily Star. Rab sources said so far 267 Rab members have been punished on charge of involvement in corruption.
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