Thieves take off with 'Tk 10.3 lakh' worth of tech, cash from Mirpur DOHS flat

A flat in Dhaka's Mirpur DOHS area was robbed on March 17, with the thieves taking away cash and different valuables worth around Tk 10.3 lakh, the residents of the apartment said.

The whole incident was caught on closed-circuit camera, Nasir Uddin, the owner of the flat, told The Daily Star last Wednesday.

Police arrested the caretaker of the residential building the same day and he was later sent to jail by a Dhaka court in a case filed with Pallabi Police Station by Nasir Uddin' wife Mahmuda Begum, Sub-Inspector Tareq Rajib said on Wednesday.

The arrestee, Ramzan, could not provide any information, the SI said.

Nasir told The Daily Star, "On that day [March 17], six family members were at home. Just a few days before the robbery, my UK expatriate sister-in-law and her daughter came to visit us. We all were sleeping when the valuables were looted. Around 8:15am, I woke up and noticed that the main door was open and my sister-in-law's bag was lying on the floor near the door. Then, I found that all the mobile phones of the house were gone. At that moment, we realised that we were robbed."

Nasir informed that the robbers took away four iPhones, one Samsung phone, an Apple Airpod and cash worth Tk 10.3 lakh. However, CCTV cameras captured clear images of the robbers, he added.

He further mentioned, "It's a six-storey building and we live on the top floor. A CC camera is installed on the third floor's staircase. In video footage, we found that around 7:21am, three persons climbed up the stairs one after another. They got down around 7:31am. While getting down, one of them was seen separating the charger from one of the handsets and leaving it on the stairs.

"We took the CCTV footage to Pallabi Police Station and lodged a case against unknown criminals. Later on, SI Tareq visited our house and detained caretaker Ramzan," the flat owner said.

"We have received CCTV footage of the incident. It is now being analysed. Once we get the CDR report of the CCTV footage, we will decide about the next steps," SI Tareq Rajib said.

Asked about the CDR report, he informed, "We received the IMEI numbers of the mobile phones that have been stolen. Now we are trying to track those handsets through the IMEI numbers. If someone uses them, there would be a location information. Also, we are trying to figure out the call records and message history."

Asked why police could not nab the three suspects even though their faces were visible on the footage, SI Tareq said, "Maybe, they went into hiding. But we have sources in that area. Also, we have given the CCTV footage to different shops around that area. Thus, if anyone manages to identify them, they can inform us. We hope the robbers will be caught."

Translated by Mohammed Ishtiaque Khan