Ashulia daylight bank robbery death toll rises to eight

Seven people were shot dead by a gang of robbers during a heist at a bank in Dhaka’s Ashulia while a mob lynched one of the robbers, police say.

Police and witnesses said the Kathgarha branch of Bangladesh Commerce Bank Ltd came under attack around 2pm on Tuesday.

The robbers, trying to flee the scene, opened fire and exploded crude bombs when locals tried to surround them after calls were made on the loudspeaker of the local mosque to foil the heist.

Five of the deceased, including the bank’s manager, were shot dead on the spot, police said.

Two others also succumbed to their bullet wounds in Savar’s Enam Medical College and Hospital in the evening, Ashulia Police Station’s Sub-Inspector Zakaria Hossain tol bdnews24.com.

Fourteen others, who were shot and suffered wounds from sharp weapons, are still undergoing treatment at the hospital.

Duty doctors said some of them were in critical condition.

Witnesses said there were at least 10 robbers in the gang who fled in their motorcycles and a car after the shootout.

But one of the motorcycles fell on the road at Amtola, about one kilometre away from the bank, when locals chased them and the crowd started beating the riders.

One of them were killed on the spot while the other was handed to police. The mob also set the motorcycle on fire.

Savar’s ASP Russell Sheikh confirmed bdnews24.com: “Five were shot dead by robbers. The crowd caught two of the robbers. One of them was beaten to death.”

The commercial bank’s Managing Director Abu Sadeq Mohammad Sohel told reporters that the robbers had looted around Tk 700,000.

However, a bag with Tk 594,255 was recovered following the resistance from the locals.

Dhaka’s Superintendent of Police Habibur Rahman at the scene confirmed reporters about the recovery. “Raids are still on to catch the other robbers.”

RAB and police launched drives in the adjacent areas right after the heist. They also put up checkpoints at different spots.

Deputy Inspector General of Dhaka Range SM Mahfuzul Haque Nuruzzaman told bdnews24.com a number of arrests were made.

Police recovered five handmade bombs from around the building that housed the bank. They also found many bombs at several spots on one kilometre stretch of the Jirabo-Bish Mile road, west to the bank.

Later, RAB’s bomb squad defused the bombs.

The deceased were named as the bank’s branch manager Md Oliullah, 45, security guard Badrul Alam, 38, customer ‘Palash’, 48, street-side vendor Muneer Hossain, 60, ‘Zamir’, 38, 35-year old Nur Mohammad, who ran a rice store, and Zillur Rahman, keeper of a shop below the bank, whose age could not be immediately known.

The injured are ‘Parvez’, Nur Islam, Ayub Ali, Shafiqul Islam, Sazzad Ali, Saiful Islam, ‘Romjan’, Shahjahan, ‘Anis’, Hamed Ali, ‘Shahjad’, ‘Rafiq’, Abdul Haque and ‘Salam’.

The robber beaten to death and the other in police custody were yet to be identified.

Robbers posed as clients

Witnesses and the bank’s staff said the robbers entered the Bangladesh Commerce Bank branch posing as clients before they tried to get the vault’s key from Manager Oliullah at gunpoint.

Robin Dewan, an eyewitness, toldbdnews24.com the robbers had come riding motorcycles and a private car.

They took the manager and other bank employees hostage first, threatening them with guns and bombs, he said.

Cash Officer Tariqul Islam said, “The robbers hacked Oliullah with sharp weapons and then shot him when he refused to give the vault’s key. Then the robbers took the money kept at the cash counters.”

They started shooting, stabbing and exploding bombs at the time, leaving Oliullah, Badrul and Palash dead.

Another witness, Mostafizur Rahman Barkat, toldbdnews24.com that they found the manager and the guard in a pool of blood when they rushed to the bank on hearing of the trouble.

“We also found at least 15 other people inside the bank with bullet and stab wounds,” he added.