Detectives recover Tk6.43cr of DBBL's money so far
Police detectives have so far recovered Tk6.43 crore of Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd's Tk11.25 crore that was robbed on Thursday from a microbus of the bank's security agency Money Plant Link Private Ltd.
The amount was robbed on 9 March in Uttara's Diabari area while a microbus of the security agency was on the way to refill ATM booths in Savar EPZ areas.
On that day, the Detective Branch chief claimed to have recovered Tk9 crore from the capital's Khilkhet. But, after counting the cash, police found only Tk3.89 crore in cash, which sparked criticism on social media.
Following the criticism, the DB conducted several raids in different areas of Dhaka, Sylhet and Sunamganj and arrested eight people and recovered another Tk2.53 crore from them.
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At a press conference at the DMP Media Centre on Sunday, DB Chief Harun Or Rashid said the robbers hired a HiAce microbus on 8 march to go to Sylhet the next day. At around 5:30am on 9 March, when the microbus arrived at Kurmitola bus stand the robbers tied the driver up, blindfolded him and made him unconscious by applying chloroform. Then, they went to Mirpur DOHS and waited for the departure of Money Plant's cash-laden microbus.
"The robbers knew the registration number of the vehicle and that it would carry a large amount of money as they had followed the vehicle earlier. They chased the vehicle. When the Money Plant car reached Diabari the robbers purposefully started a brawl with its driver and took control of the vehicle," DB chief told the media.
A DB official told TBS that the robbers were unarmed and impersonated DB members.
"While driving towards the 300 Feet area, the robbers dropped off five security agency personnel. Then they broke four cash-laden trunks and stuffed two sacks and five shopping bags with money from two trunks. As they were short of bags, they left the vehicle and two other trunks at Khilkhet," the DB chief added.
"The robbers also changed their clothes inside the vehicle, left one shopping bag filled with cash beside the driver's seat and fled the capital," he added.
Lack of security
Money Plant Link had lax security measures while carrying the cash. None of its five officials in the microbus was armed. The agency has been carrying such a huge amount of cash in this manner for years. They had not even informed local police stations before carrying cash, said Harun Or Rashid.
Meanwhile, DB yesterday raided the C&B Colony in Khulna city and detained four persons over the robbery, said Sonadanga Police Station Officer in Charge Momtazul Haque whose team assisted the DB team during the raids.
Joshoda Jibon Debnath, managing director of Money Plant Link, told TBS that they are still worried whether the full amount of money can be recovered.
