Robbery on bus, female passengers ‘sexually harassed’ on Dhaka-Tangail Highway

Robbers have swooped in on a long-haul passenger bus on the Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge Highway, whisking away valuables and allegedly harassing female passengers sexually during the act.

The heist occurred between 11:30pm on Tuesday and 5am on Wednesday, when a group of robbers took control of a Rangpur-bound bus and looted the passengers, Tangail Additional Superintendent of Police (Sadar Circle) HM Mahbub Rezwan Siddiqui said.

This is the second instance of a robbery on the highway within three months.

One of the passengers started a case over the incident with the Tangail Sadar Police Station.

The officer said an Al Imran Paribahan bus bound to Rangpur began its journey from Dhaka’s Abdullahpur around 8pm. Along the way, several robbers boarded the bus, posing as passengers from several locations along the highway and later took control of the vehicle.

According to those robbed and bus supervisors, several individuals got onto the bus from Savar’s Norsinghpur, Baipail, and Ashulia. Of around 38 passengers on the bus, 10 were women.

They said that after travelling several kilometres along the connecting road from the eastern end of the Jamuna Bridge, 10 robbers disguised as passengers took control of the vehicle by threatening the driver with knives, machetes, and other local weapons.

The perpetrators then drove the bus back and forth several times between the stretch between the Tangail and Chandra-Ashulia route.

According to passengers, around 5:30am, the robbers left the bus at Shibpur on the Tangail City Bypass Road and fled.

Atiqur Rahman Ranga, the 21-year-old supervisor of the bus, said: "The robbers blindfolded the passengers as well as the driver and staff. After reaching the roundabout at the eastern end of the Jamuna Bridge, they turned the bus around and started driving back toward Dhaka.

"During this time, they searched each passenger and looted mobile phones, cash, gold jewellery and other belongings."

At dawn, after the robbers fled, the passengers went to Tangail Sadar Police Station to file a complaint, he added.

One of the passengers, 52-year-old Afaz Uddin from Bogura’s Adamdighi Upazila, alleged that the robbers had “molested” the female passengers under the pretence of searches for money and valuables.

Though blindfolded, he said, he heard their cries and pleas.

Another passenger from Rangpur’s Kaunia Upazila, 50-year-old Zayda Begum, said: “They took all the gold jewellery off the women. If anyone resisted, they were beaten.”

Police launched an operation to catch the criminals following the complaint, Mahbub said.

Earlier, on Feb 17, a similar robbery and harassment of female passengers occurred on a Unique Royals passenger bus on the highway.