Published : 03 Sep 2026, 07:47 AM
Updated : 16 Sep 2026, 11:47 AM
Ranjila Parvin, a headteacher at a primary school in Bogura, had travelled to Dhaka for an eye check-up, planning to be back at her desk the next morning.
She did make it back to school the following day -- in a coffin.
When her lifeless body arrived at the school field by ambulance on Sunday, her young students struggled to believe that their beloved Ranjila Madam was no more.
The 57-year-old was killed early the previous morning after a mugger’s sudden pull threw her from a rickshaw onto the road near parliament complex.
She had travelled to the capital with her husband on Friday night to see a doctor.
Early in the morning, the couple got off a bus and took a rickshaw to Ispahani Islamia Eye Institute and Hospital in Farmgate.
Just before they reached the hospital, a motorcycle-riding mugger grabbed Ranjila’s bag and tugged at it, throwing her onto the road and leaving her with a serious head injury.
She was rushed to hospital, but doctors declared her dead.
Her husband Abdul Matin, overcome with grief, barely spoke to anyone after the incident.
He completed the postmortem and left for home on Saturday night.
On Sunday, he said: “We went to Dhaka with my wife for treatment. We returned with her body. What more can I say?”
Around the same time early Saturday, another mugger, identified only as Jony, died after being accidentally stabbed near Bhanga Bridge in Kadamtali, on the other side of Dhaka.
Kadamtali Police Inspector Sajib Kumar Baroi said three muggers had surrounded two pedestrians and tried to rob one of them after grabbing him.
When the pedestrians screamed, one of the muggers tried to attack the victim with a switchblade.
Jony, who was holding the victim from behind, was accidentally stabbed in the chest below his arm.
The other two muggers fled, while the injured Jony later died.
In busy Dhaka, “snatching panic” has grown among ordinary people. Muggers sometimes block roads with weapons in broad daylight or under cover of darkness, while at other times they snatch valuables with a sudden pull.
A series of muggings and attacks in parts of the city has fuelled quiet anger and a growing sense of insecurity among residents.
Raisul Islam, a Mirpur resident, said: “There was a time when I would go out with friends at night to hang out or visit places. Now going out for fun is out of the question; I am scared even on my way to and from work.
“I am afraid when I take a rickshaw, and I am afraid when I take a bus. There is no particular time anymore. I am constantly worried about when I might come face to face with muggers.”
The private-sector employee, who works in Uttara, said: “It’s not that snatching has never happened before. But what is happening now is too much. And the same situation has continued day after day. How long can this go on?”
A review of several recent mugging incidents shows that long-distance passengers getting off buses, trains or launches between 4am and 7am, and after 10pm, are among those most frequently targeted.
While muggers have traditionally robbed people by threatening them at isolated places, their tactics have also changed.
Members of the “Taana Party” or “pull gang” now snatch bags or mobile phones from pedestrians from moving motorcycles or cars.
Victims often fall onto the road and suffer serious injuries, with some attacks proving fatal.
Police officials, however, are reluctant to say muggings have increased based on case statistics.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) says 172 mugging cases were filed at different police stations in the city during the first six months of this year, from January to June, with 402 people arrested.
Last year, police arrested 1,435 people in 531 cases.
By comparison, the number of cases and arrests in the first six months of this year is less than half of last year’s figures.
Police Headquarters data show 189 cases were filed at 50 DMP stations during the first seven months of this year, from January to July.
Under law, mugging cases are filed under provisions covering robbery and dacoity. If there are one to four accused, the offence is treated as robbery; if there are more than four, it is classified as dacoity.
On Aug 10, motorcycle-riding muggers stopped a vehicle carrying petrol station employees who were on their way to deposit money at a bank in Uttara and snatched Tk 12.12 million.
The Detective Branch and Rapid Action Battalion later said they had arrested eight people in connection with the case.
DMP Deputy Commissioner for Media and Public Relations Md Akhtar Hossain said preventing muggings is now a major focus for police.
“Preventing snatching is our main priority, but the incidents that still occur are unwanted,” he said.
He said police give considerable importance to mugging cases.
“Our patrol teams and foot patrol parties work in different places day and night. Our ACs, ADCs and DCs are also constantly monitoring them. We are active from our side, and we also take action based on intelligence. We remain alert,” he said.
He added that incidents reported to police are being recorded as regular cases and suspects are being arrested.
Some analysts believe state patronage and changes in the way muggings are carried out are bigger factors behind the problem than police failure.
Prof Omar Faruk, chairman of the Department of Criminology and Police Science at Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, said muggings were once largely associated with marginalised people or those involved with drugs, but the nature of the crime has changed.
“What we are seeing now is happening in the early morning or morning, and it is happening openly. I consider this organised crime. It is now happening in an organised form,” he said.
The crime expert also suggested that powerful individuals may be influencing what happens after muggers are arrested and later released on bail.
1,387 Muggers on Police Lists
There are 1,387 muggers on the DMP’s lists across its eight divisions.
The Ramna Division has 152, Lalbagh 159, Wari 308, Motijheel 168, Tejgaon 240, Mirpur 53, Gulshan 67 and Uttara 240.
About 80 percent are accused in multiple cases. Despite being arrested more than once, they have returned to mugging after securing bail.
A Tejgaon Division police officer said the list is prepared based on cases and updated regularly, with new names added.
“It is difficult to say exactly how many muggers operate in a particular area. A mugger listed in one area does not necessarily operate only there. We have seen muggers listed with Mohammadpur Police Station carrying out snatchings in Uttara,” the officer said.
The officer believes far more muggers are active in Dhaka than those on the police lists.
“Suppose several muggers stop someone on the road and take his mobile phone and wallet. A police patrol team may have searched them and left shortly before. If they have no weapons or anything else on them, police cannot arrest them.”
“A short while later, the same people may regroup and carry out a mugging. There are a large number of such floating muggers,” the police officer added.
Police say they have identified at least 300 mugging spots across Dhaka, including more than 100 hotspots.
Case statistics show the Wari division recorded the highest number of mugging cases in the first six months of this year, with 38 cases and 98 arrests.
Tejgaon followed with 34 cases and the highest number of arrests at 138.
Lalbagh recorded the fewest cases during the six-month period, with five cases and seven arrests.
Muggers Come to Dhaka From Outside
After spending the Eid holiday in Thakurgaon, two sisters returned to their home in Mohammadpur late on May 30.
They were attacked by muggers after taking a rickshaw to their home on Nurjahan Road.
A video that spread online shows a Lungi-clad young man approaching the women with a machete as they were about to enter their home. Another young man follows him.
The man with the machete says something and pushes the first rickshaw driver.
The two then threaten the women with the machete and take their bags, luggage and mobile phones.
They are also seen searching the women for jewellery and phones.
Amid widespread discussion over the incident, Md Jewel alias Arif and Anwar Hossain were arrested in Bandar of Narayanganj late on Jun 2.
Police said the two were professional muggers. They had previously lived in Mohammadpur before establishing a new base in Narayanganj, from where they regularly travelled to carry out snatchings.
Police also said Anwar was accused in a high-profile series of muggings in Mohammadpur.
Police Targeted Too
On the night of Jun 11, police Sub-Inspector Samsuzzoha and Constable Md Hridoy Hossain were injured in knife attacks while trying to arrest muggers on the road outside Zia Udyan.
Police said the incident occurred when patrol officers moved to catch three muggers fleeing in an auto-rickshaw after hearing people shout for help.
The two officers were stabbed in the shoulders, but police managed to catch two of the muggers red-handed.
On the morning of Jun 16, muggers hacked an MFS agent in Adabor and robbed him of Tk 350,000.
After receiving a complaint, police went to the Dhaka Udyan area that afternoon to arrest suspects.
The muggers attacked Adabor Police chief Zahidul Islam and Sub-Inspector, identified only as Tarun, with machetes, injuring both.
Police later opened fire, injuring two muggers and arresting four people.
A month earlier, on the morning of May 11, Dhanmondi police came under attack while trying to arrest muggers near the Town Hall of Mohammadpur.
Police said the group tried to attack officers with “Chinese axes and machetes” during a raid to arrest the muggers.
A police officer fired four rounds from his pistol in “self-defence”.
Several police officers were injured and one mugger was shot in the leg.
Police said two people were arrested at the scene and that the group used motorcycles to roam around and carry out snatchings in Dhanmondi.
The ‘Pull Gang’ Keeps Operating
Pedestrians and rickshaw passengers are regularly having their phones, bags and other belongings snatched with a sudden pull on roads across Dhaka.
Police officials say most victims avoid the “hassle of filing a case” and instead file a general diary, saying the items were lost.
Victims, however, say they are often “forced” to do so because they follow “what police tell them”.
Around 11pm on Jul 9, a rickshaw passenger named Suman Matubbar fell victim to a pull gang in front of Abahani Field in Dhanmondi.
A man on a motorcycle coming from behind snatched his mobile phone from his hand and fled.
Suman later went to Dhanmondi Police Station and filed a general diary saying the phone had “fallen from his pocket and gone missing near Abahani Field”.
“A couple of days later, with the investigating officer’s help, I managed to obtain some CCTV footage,” he said. “But the motorcycle’s number plate still could not be clearly identified, and despite checking many houses nearby, I could not find any similar footage.”
He alleged: “Muggers are generally not caught unless someone dies or an incident goes viral. The mugger who snatched my phone was not caught, so he will surely get another chance to mug someone. Someone could fall because of his pull and even die.”
Asked why he filed a general diary instead of a case despite being mugged, Suman said: “I did what police told me to do.”
Responding to allegations that victims who lose their phones or other belongings to pull gangs are being forced to file general diaries instead of cases, DMP Deputy Commissioner Akhtar said: “That is not correct. Most people in our country do not want to file a case when they are mugged because they think they will have to testify if they do.”
He said action would be taken if anyone is told to conceal a mugging and reports it to a senior officer.
Muggings in Broad Daylight
Muggings are also happening in plain daylight across the city.
In the last 10 days alone, traffic police have arrested muggers in at least five incidents after being alerted by bystanders' shouts.
Most recently, on Saturday in Mirpur-12, an officer on duty moved in after a pedestrian shouted “thief, thief”. The officer chased and arrested a mugger, identified only as Jashim.
On the afternoon of Aug 26, traffic police on duty at Jatrabari intersection heard a woman screaming and saw a man running away after snatching something.
They chased and detained the young man, named Md Selim, who had snatched the woman’s earring.
On Aug 25, a traffic sergeant on duty at Jurain Railway Gate arrested a mugger named Md Shahjalal as he fled after snatching a mobile phone from a woman’s vanity bag.
On Aug 24, traffic police in Kamalapur detained a mugger named Mohammad Rashed while he was trying to steal from a passenger by putting his hand into the passenger’s pocket as he got off a bus.
On the morning of Aug 20, a mugger named Md Sahed snatched an earring from a woman walking on the road in front of the Kamalapur bus counter and tried to swallow it.
A traffic sergeant on duty, with help from locals, detained him and handed him over to police.
No Suspect in 4 Months
On Mar 19, housewife Mukta Akter died after a mugger in a car grabbed and pulled her bag beneath Uttara South Metro Station.
She was travelling from her rented home in Dakshinkhan to Mirpur to shop ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr when the sudden pull threw her onto the road, seriously injuring her.
After being taken to three hospitals, she was declared dead at Dhaka Medical College Hospital around noon.
Mukta, from Barguna, had married garment worker Limon Hossain about two years earlier and lived with him in Dakshinkhan’s Faidabad.
Limon filed a case at Turag Police Station against three to four unidentified people, but police have failed to identify anyone in four months.
Turag Police chief Mostafizur Rahman said the case had been transferred to the Detective Branch (DB) after making little progress at the station.
Limon said he still did not know who killed his wife and had received no updates for a long time.
DB Uttara Division Deputy Commissioner Ilias Kabir said the vehicle could not be identified because its number plate was unclear, but police were pursuing a mobile phone number identified during the investigation.
Police Often Know Nothing
SKF Pharmaceuticals sales officer Soheli Islam Soma was returning to Dhaka from Parbatipur with her daughter after the Eid holiday on Jun 7 when motorcycle-riding muggers grabbed her handbag near Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College.
She fell onto the road, hitting her head against a divider, and died in hospital on Jun 11.
Police at the station had no information about the incident even five days after her death because no complaint had been filed.
Her maternal uncle Nazmul Mowla Liton filed a case with Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station on Jun 13.
Police arrested Nayan the next day and, after a three-day remand, he was sent to jail.
Amid growing concern over muggings, DMP Additional Commissioner for Detective Branch Md Shafiqul Islam said police had increased patrols.
“We have increased our patrol teams. We are working,” he told bdnews24.com.
Ranjila’s husband, however, said they saw no police patrol during their rickshaw journey between 5:30am and 6am on the day she was killed.
DMP Deputy Commissioner Akhtar denied any shortage of patrols, saying teams could not be everywhere at once but senior officers constantly monitored them.
Criminologist Faruk said economic instability was driving the rise in muggings and the problem could be tackled if the government had the political will to act.
