TV show ‘Crime Patrol’ inspires real-life Dhaka gang
The gang has been robbing people on Dhaka-Manikganj and other highways for the last three months even during the pandemic
Several films and TV series have inspired people to enact crimes in real life.
Bashir Mollah, a robber for 20 years, was thrown behind bars two years ago.
Getting out of prison in July this year, he suddenly changed his way of doing things. A few episodes of the Indian TV show "Crime Patrol" had given him fresh ideas on how to commit a crime in new, "innovative" ways.
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The 42-year-old Bashir, the ringleader of a gang, devised a plan to rob people inside a passenger bus.
The alleged ringleader formed his team with helpers, drivers and conductors of different passenger buses.
They did not need to do anything new except play their normal, daily roles with criminal intent.
Bashir would rent a bus for a few days and remove its original name and stickers to deceive unsuspecting passengers.
Next, he would contact his gang members and start a trip with around 20 of these accomplices, who pretended to be passengers.
Soon after a genuine passenger boarded the bus, Bashir and his gang would snatch all his possessions and throw him out of the vehicle.
This is how the gang has been robbing unsuspecting passengers on Dhaka-Manikganj and other highways for the last three months, even during the pandemic.
They were finally apprehended during an investigation into the murder of hotelier, Robiul Islam Lashkar.
Robiul had been killed on 5 October and his body was found in Savar's Aminbazar the next day.
The robbers attacked the hotelier as he boarded their bus.
Robiul initially resisted them, assuming the bus was carrying other regular passengers like him. But it soon became clear that the vehicle was full of robbers.
Enraged at his resistance, the gang killed Rabiul inside the bus and dumped his body next to the Savar Boliarpur Jamuna Natural Park.
The Police Bureau of Investigation (PBI) declared these findings at a press conference on Thursday.
The PBI nabbed nine people – Bashir, Sheikh Hafeez, Anwar, Amir Hossain, Al-Amin, Jewel, Naeem, Tapan and Nazmul on Wednesday.
The wheel range of the bus, used in Robiul murder, was also recovered at the time.
PBI Deputy Inspector General, Banaj Kumar Majumder said they had come across the names of the 18 gang members, including the ringleader Bashir, while working on the Robiul murder case.
"An operation is underway to arrest the rest," he continued.
