Bangladeshi bandit gang busted in India

Lucknow Police busted a gang of Bangladeshi bandits and nabbed three after a brief encounter in the intervening night of Sunday and Monday.

The gang of 11 youths, all in their early 20s, has reportedly been executing dacoities with precision and escaping by trains soon after to evade arrests, The Times of India reported.

Lucknow Police commissioner Dhruva Kant Thakur said the gang was planning to execute a dacoity when a police patrol spotted it near Malhaur railway station.

"Around 1.45am, a patrol team spotted some men wielding guns along railway tracks in Malhaur, Gomtinagar, and asked them to stop. But they began running and on being chased opened fire. When police retaliated, two miscreants were hit in the exchange of fire and fell on the ground and one was nabbed while the others escaped," said Deputy Commissioner of police, East Zone, Sanjiv Suman.

The three were identified as Sheikh Rubail, 26, Alam, 27, and Rabiul, 23, all natives of Bagerhat district in Bangladesh.

Meanwhile, a manhunt has been launched to arrest the eight accused who escaped.

Police commissioner Dhruva Kant Thakur said, "They were involved in the dacoity in Kathauta Jheel area on 6 October, 2020, and then in Chinhat on December 23 last year. 

"They also attempted a dacoity in the city on the night of 7 October and 8 in Gomtinagar and had struck earlier in Maal police station area on September 15. We had intensified patrolling to nab them and succeeded," he said.

These people were specially trained for a month before entering India through the porous India-Bangladesh border and travelled to different states through trains and they used walkie-talkie handsets to communicate with each other while committing dacoities, said police sources.

The accused were trained in jumping over 15-foot high compound walls effortlessly, cutting grilles with hack-saw blades, cut pliers, and opening doorknobs by using thin screwdrivers. They also carried countrymade pistols to counter any sudden threat and communicated only in Bangla.

DCP Suman said the gang entered India via 24 Parganas district of West Bengal and then took a random train to any city.

"After committing a crime, they took a train to flee to some other state where they sold the looted ornaments and deposited the money in the accounts of their acquaintances," said Suman.

Police said the gang consists of a huge number of Bangladeshis, some of whom always remain stationed in different states at a time. 

"They were trained by gang leader Hamza, who lives in Bangladesh, and collects 30% of the booty of each robbery," the DCP said.