Bogra DB recovers 5 hijacked automobiles
The two cars and three microbuses recovered from carjackers by the Detective Branch of Police of Bogra between December 8 and 13.Photo: STAR
The Detective Branch (DB) of police has recovered five hijacked vehicles--three microbuses and two private cars--and rounded up four men of the gang, raiding different places in Pabna and Bogra between December 8 and December 13. The gang had hijacked the vehicles either disguising as clients of car renters or as law enforcers, said Officer-in-Charge of DB (Bogra) Mizanur Rahman. He said the arrested snatchers told detectives that they rented car or microbus first and hijacked those in far away and lonely places by forcing the drivers, sometimes using torture, and doping them. A victim, Nayeb Ali, 36, owner of Bismillah Rent-a-Car in Bogra, said some unidentified people rented his microbus and took it to Natore on November 21. They fed the driver drug-laced food en route and fled with the microbus, he added. It has not been recovered yet. The DB official said sometimes the gang members impersonated police personnel posing with walkie-talkies. They used to signal to stop vehicles and told the drivers to come to a nearby police station with their papers, he said. When they came, the carjackers fled with the vehicle, he added. The carjacking ring has more than a hundred members and is operating all over the country. Police said the snatchers changed the number plates and registration documents, bribing some corrupt officials of Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA). An arrestee told the DB how they managed to have a new number plate and new registration number bribing BRTA officials for one of the three seized microbuses they had hijacked in Bogra in May 2010. OC Mizanur Rahman said they were trying to crack the carjacking ring soon and hoped that police could recover more snatched vehicles. Police are applying new technology to track down the gang of snatchers, said Superintendent of Police (SP) of Bogra Mozzammel Haque.
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