Police arrest 8, recover another Tk 25m in stolen Dutch Bangla Bank cash

The authorities have retrieved Tk 64.34 million of the Tk 112 million heist

Senior Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 12 March 2023, 11:17 AM
Updated : 12 March 2023, 11:17 AM

Police have arrested eight more people with links to the robbery of Tk 112 million from a Dutch Bangla Bank cash van and retrieved Tk 25.39 million of the stolen money from them.

Harunor Rashid, chief of Dhaka Metropolitan Police’s Detective Branch, said the recovered sum totalled Tk 64.34 million.

A cash van heading to an ATM booth was robbed in Uttara's Sector No. 16 on Mar 9.

Later that day, law enforcers detained seven individuals, including some employees of Money Plant Link Private Ltd, the company responsible for transporting the money.

Joshoda Jibon Debnath, the managing director of Money Plant Link Private Ltd, which delivers cash to DBBL designated booths under an annual contract, then said one of the recovered trunks was empty, and nearly Tk 39 million was found in the remaining two.

Harunor on Sunday said they arrested Sanowar Hasan on Saturday night and found Tk 11.45 million with him. Milon, aka Emon, was detained in Banani and another Tk 3.24 million was found at his home in Joar Sahara later.

Police also arrested Akash and Sagar in Uttara and found Tk 10.7 million at their home while also seizing the Hiace microbus used for the heist.

Another team from the Detective Branch carried out an operation in Sunamganj and arrested Md Badrul Alam, Md Mizanur Rahman, Md Sanai Mia and Md Enamul Haque Badsha over their suspected involvement in the robbery.

Harunor said the arrestees rented a Hiace microbus to travel to Sylhet, and upon arriving near Kurmitola, seized control of the car from the driver who was blindfolded while his hands and feet were bound.

He said that the robbers waited near DOHS to rob the van transporting the DBBL funds.

Joshoda earlier said their company loads money into ATM machines daily, and around 7 am on Thursday, while passing through Uttara’s Diabari, their van was blocked by a black microbus. Around four or five people then came out of the microbus before beating and dragging the security guard and driver out of the van and taking away the keys.

Harunor said

After the heist was completed, the robbers took the cash van, which had been modified with grills for protection, to the 300-Feet Road with the money, dropping off five of their cohorts on the way, according to the police.

The robbers pulled out two trunks of money and filled up two rice sacks and five other bags. As there weren't enough bags to empty the trunks, they fled the scene 'in fear'. They changed their clothes and left behind one of the bags in the driver’s seat.

Harunor said the driver took the remaining bag and emptied the trunk. He gave the money to his brother. It was later recovered from his home after he confessed.

The police officer mentioned that people transporting such a large amount of money were not armed and that is usually how it is done. They did not inform local law enforcement about transporting the money either.

Responding to a question, Harunor said Money Plant Company Ltd staff were detained for questioning on the day of the incident.