Robbery spree on highway

Armed robbers looted around 40 vehicles including passenger buses and injured 30 people at Andulbaria in Jibonnagar upazila of Chuadanga district on Wednesday night.

Witness said 20 to 30 armed robbers put barricade with an abandoned electric pole at a lonely spot of Santoshpur-Andulbaria road, near Gupto Pir Majar, around 11:30pm.

They started looting cash, ornaments and other valuable things from people of passenger buses, trucks and other vehicles.

The robbers indiscriminately beat up and stabbed when anyone tried to resist or declined to give their belongings, said Ovi Sarker, one of the robbery victims.

With stab injuries in head and left hand, he is undergoing treatment at Chuadanga Sadar Hospital. 

Hearing the scream of the victims, people from nearby villages rushed to the spot and the robbers fled away.

"I informed the nearby Shahpur police camp of the matter soon after receiving a message about the robbery from my relative. But a police team of the camp was taking tea at Santoshpur bus stand during the robbery," said Azizul Islam, a relative of a victim.

Around 30 people, who were injured by the robbers, were admitted to Jibonnagar Upazila Health Complex and Chuadanga Sadar Hospital.

Enamul, 30, Kamrul, 24, Zakir Hossain, 40, Liton, 32, Saidur Rahman, 52, Chanchal Ali, 28, Rahul Hossain, 25, Ovi Sarker, 26, Abdul Hannan, 29, Rokibul Islam, 32, Shri Dev Ghos, 42, Sadahn Biswas, 30, Shamsuddin, 35, are among the injured.

Golam Mohammad, officer-in-charge of Jibonnagar Police Station, said police rushed to the spot soon after hearing about the incident.

Police is trying to arrest the robbers, he said.