Law enforcement officials presumed that the sudden increase in hijacking and snatching might be a boomerang effect caused by recent eviction drives conducted by the authorities that turned thousands of slum dwellers shelter less and street vendors jobless.

Some of the muggers arrested recently turned out to be street vendors by profession who have taken up mugging for survival, said police sources.

"The recent eviction of street vendors from sidewalks is one of the probable reasons why the crime rate shows a rising trend," said Monwar Hossain, officer in charge of Dhanmondi Police Station (PS).

"A great number of 'part-time' and 'floating' hijackers have emerged on the streets, and it's a tricky business to track these criminals as they do not operate at any particular location," Hossain added.

According to sources, more than 100 cases of muggings have been reported during the course of the last six months while around 15 sophisticated mugging cases were reported across the Dhaka city during the first quarter of April.

A source at Ramna division of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) told this correspondent that in February and March this year, reported cases of muggings were 18 and 19 respectively in 5 police stations in Ramna.

These figures are quite higher in comparison with January figures -- only 10 cases of reported muggings.

"It seems as if muggings in the last couple of months have somewhat doubled compared to months before," said Sub Inspector Kalpana Akhter from Ramna PS.

The apparently striking statistics are only a small piece of the whole pie. The real situation is much worse as most mugging incidents go unreported, admitted law enforcers.

In most residential areas, although mugging is on a meteoric rise, only around 5 percent of the incidents were reported to the authorities, said law enforcers.

Jalil Ahmed, a service provider, was mugged in the first week of April when he was caught in traffic near a traffic signal during late evening hours.

"There were only two of them [muggers] and they appeared to be checking all vehicles. Since they were well dressed and looked quite decent, I considered them to be law enforcers and barely protested when they tried to get in the car I was in," said Ahmed.

"They pulled out two pistols and pointed them at my waist from both sides before anyone could even realize what was happening. They took off with my laptop PC, a cellphone, a watch and Tk 3,000 in cash," he added.

According to law enforcers, this is one of the newest techniques used by a group of muggers who mostly operate on Airport Road. Both victims and law enforcers are taken aback by the innovative and resourceful methods used by these muggers.

"We received reports of muggings where muggers used sophisticated equipment to unlock cars or even follow victims in their car and send another group of assailants on motorbikes to commit the crime," said a police official.

Delowar Haque (not real name), a businessman, was mugged at Banani on April 3. Haque, along and his two acquaintances were walking towards Banani Bazar at around 11:30 pm when three unidentified men blocked their way.

"As they drew out sharp weapons and a firearm, we had no option but to handover all our possessions to them. They took away our cell phones, Tk 50,000 in cash and a large amount of dollars that I was carrying to make a business payment," said Haque.

"We later realized that the muggers were following us in a black Nissan Patrol all along. They drove away immediately after mugging us," he added.

According to police sources, there are other gangs pretending to be undercover law enforcers. These gangs prey on unsuspecting road users by stopping vehicles in the name of security checks.

"Because of their ever-changing strategies, it has become highly unpredictable as to when and how the muggers might attack," said an official from Rapid Action Battalion (Rab).

Another common approach taken by the muggers, especially on the streets of Manik Mia Avenue, Airport Road, Shahbagh and streets in Dhaka University, is to intercept vehicles as soon as they slow down before speed breakers.

The crime busters are discovering themselves one step behind the criminals due to their lousy intelligence work and lack of adequate human resources, claimed police sources.