LUCKNOW: A gang of Bangladeshi youths, all in their early 20s, striking at will across states, executing dacoities with precision and escaping by trains soon after to evade arrests, was finally busted by Lucknow Police after a brief encounter in the intervening night of Sunday and Monday.
The 11 gang members used to enter India through the porous India-Bangladesh border and travelled to different states though trains and used walkie-talkie handsets to communicate with each other while committing dacoities.
Lucknow Police commissioner Dhruva Kant Thakur said the gang was planning to execute a dacoity when a police patrol spotted it near Malhaur railway station.
“Around 1.45am, a patrol team spotted some men wielding guns along railway tracks in Malhaur, Gomtinagar, and asked them to stop. But they began running and on being chased opened fire. When police retaliated, two miscreants were hit in the exchange of fire and fell on the ground and one was nabbed while the others escaped,” said Deputy Commissioner of police, East Zone, Sanjiv Suman.
The three were identified as Sheikh Rubail, 26, Alam, 27, and Rabiul, 23, all natives of Bagerhat district in Bangladesh.
During questioning, they confessed that they were specially trained in Bangladesh for a month before they came to strike in India.
The accused were trained in jumping over 15-foot high compound walls effortlessly, cutting grilles with hack-saw blades, cut pliers, and opening doorknobs by using thin screwdrivers.
They also carried countrymade pistols to counter any sudden threat and communicated only in Bangla, said officials.
“They were trained by one Hamza, who lives in Bangladesh, and collects 30% of the booty of each robbery. A manhunt has been launched to arrest the eight accused who escaped,” they added.
During questioning, the three confessed to their involvement in two dacoities in Vibhutikhand and Chinhat in the state capital and three dacoities in Rohaniya police station area of Varanasi.
They also confessed to have committed robberies in Dehradun, Bengaluru, Katni, Bhubaneswar, and Anand Vihar in Delhi and are wanted in cases registered in different states, including UP, the officials said.
“After committing some dacoities, the gang used to flee to Bangladesh, hence could not be nabbed,” said Thakur.
They were involved in the dacoity in Kathauta Jheel area on October 6, 2020, and then in Chinhat on December 23 last year, the CP added.
“They also attempted a dacoity in the city on the night of October 7 and 8 in Gomtinagar and had struck earlier in Maal police station area on September 15. We had intensified patrolling to nab them and succeeded,” he said.
DCP Suman said the gang entered India via 24 Parganas district of West Bengal and then took a random train to any city.
“After committing crime, they took a train to flee to some other state where they sold the looted ornaments and deposited the money in the accounts of their acquaintances,” said Suman.
Police said the gang consists of a huge number of Bangladeshis, some of whom always remain stationed in different states at a time. “They were handled by Hamza, who is the gang leader,” the DCP said.
The dacoits used to hold the family members hostage and hit them with iron rods before committing dacoity.
