Robbery on Dhaka-Chattogram Highway: 'expatriates being targeted at airport'

Police have arrested four people in connection with two separate robbery incidents on the Dhaka-Chattagram Highway in Cumilla.

The law enforcers also recovered arms and belongings from them, Cumilla Superintendent of Police Nazer Ahmed Khan said at a media briefing at his office on Wednesday.

The arrestees are Abdul Hannan, 35, from Chandpur; Md Sharif Hossain, 45, from Lakshmipur; Nazrul Islam, 60, and Mohammad Alauddin, 35, from Cumilla.

Several areas on the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway are becoming a source of fear for passengers.

Expatriates in particular are facing increasing robberies on their way home and losing their all.

SP Nazer says a robbery gang "targets" those expatriates from the airport.

He claimed that the four arrestees are members of a robbery gang citing initial interrogation.

The officer said, "A gang of 20-25 robbers from Cumilla, Chandpur, Noakhali, and Chattogram districts carry out highway robberies in three groups. They get information about the expatriates’ cars through sources from the airport.

"From the Meghna Bridge Toll Plaza, they follow the expatriates’ cars and block them with a pickup at a secluded place. A gang of up to seven robbers take the expatriates hostage at gunpoint and loot everything."

The police superintendent said the four had admitted robbing two expatriates by stopping their vehicles during the interrogation.

On Feb 27 and Mar 1, a Malaysian and a Kuwaiti migrant worker were robbed at the same place on the highway’s “Fagun Kora” area, respectively.

Two cases were filed over the incidents.