Former driver of Money Plant among 4 masterminded DBBL robbery: Police

A former driver for Money Plant Link Pvt Limited, Sohel Rana, masterminded the heist of Tk11.25 crore from the Dutch Bangla Bank Limited (DBBL) cash van, said police.

Additional Commissioner and Chief of Dhaka Metropolitan Police's Detective Branch (DB) Mohammad Harun-or-Rashid made the disclosure while addressing the press following the arrest of three more robbers in Dhaka on Tuesday.

The fresh arrestees are Md Akash, 21, Md Milon Miah, 29 and Emon. They were arrested in separate drives conducted in Dhaka's Korail, Khulna and Netrokona. With this, the Detective Branch has arrested a total of 11 persons over the robbery so far.

The robber gang followed the cash van and planned the heist for more than a month before the incident took place, Harun-or-Rashid said, adding four people masterminded the ramp, including the former Money Plant driver Sohel Rana, who still remains at large. 

Another mastermind Md Akash was arrested from Khulna on Tuesday morning, he said.

The security agency Money Plant Link Private Limited was tasked to carry the cash for the bank.

Detectives now suspect that current employees of the security agency might be involved in the heist and fed information to the robbers beforehand.

Meanwhile, DB recovered Tk58.7 lakh of the robbed money on Monday, taking the total recovered amount to Tk7.1 crore. Following the robbery, DBBL claimed Tk11.25 crore was stolen from the van. 

"Sohel Rana knew that the security agency transported money without armed guards. The robbers even did a recce of the area stretching from Money Plant's Mirpur DOHS office to Uttara Diabari the night before the robbery," the DB chief said.

"Only four of the people involved in the robbery knew about the plan and what they were going to do. The rest 10-12 people were just called on to Dhaka from Sunamganj, Netrokona and some other parts of the country as helpers. They did not know about the robbery," said Harun-or-Rashid. 

"The perpetrators had a duplicate key of the microbus that was robbed. They did not even need any arms to get control of the car as they had a duplicate key," said the police official.

The DB chief also put blame on Money Plant as they had not taken enough security measures for the job. "We would write those things in the case investigation and will make some more recommendations against the agency," Harun-or-Rashid added.

On Thursday (9 March), the vehicle from Money Plant Link Private Limited carrying Tk11.25 crore of DBBL was headed toward Savar when a group of robbers intercepted it around 7:30am.

There were five persons inside the vehicle including the driver. Robbers allegedly held them at gunpoint, assaulted the driver and drove away with the microbus towards Ashulia highway from Uttara Sector 11 near Diabari area, Joshoda Jibon Debnath, managing director of Money Plant Link Private Limited told TBS earlier.

According to police sources, the security agency men riding the microbus were unarmed. Usually, security agencies carry arms while transporting cash to refill ATM booths.