A reign of fear has taken hold of the streets of Dhaka city and elsewhere in the country in recent days, as citizens are coming under attack by mugging gangs at any hour of the day amid ineffectual law enforcement interventions.
The streets of Dhaka city have particularly become a haven for prowling gangs swooping on commuters at the slightest opportunity both during the day and when darkness falls.
Witnesses described these gangs armed with sharp weapons and firearms to lurk on the streets and alleyways in dif2ferent neighbourhoods across the city.
Even rickshaw-pullers who often are seen on the city roads carrying or looking for passengers at the small hours expressed their fear of being attacked.
鈥楾here is no safety nowadays. Two mugging incidents happened in front of my eyes. I too could be a victim and something unbearable can happen to me if I go out,鈥� said Rickshaw-puller Belal Hossain who lives in the city鈥檚 Shankar area.
鈥楤ut what will I eat if I don鈥檛 go out?鈥� he asked while talking to 抖阴精品 at Shahbagh on Monday.
Zilsana Binte Nazir Ridi, who studies in a private university in the city, said that she fell victim to two mugging incidents in Banglamotor and Farmgate areas recently.
鈥楽tepping out of home doesn鈥檛 feel safe anymore as the city is gripped by rampant criminal incidents,鈥� she lamented.
Reports of daring mugging incidents are coming almost every day. At least two such incidents occurred in Dhaka city鈥檚 Banasree and Mohammadpur areas between Sunday night and early Monday.
Meanwhile, at an eyebrow raising emergency press briefing held at about 3:00am Monday, the home adviser to the interim government, retired lieutenant general M Jahangir Alam Chowdhury, blamed the collaborators of the ousted fascist Awami League regime for the deteriorating law and order.
Jahangir, briefing the journalists at his residence at Baridhara DOHS, said, 鈥楢wami League men have smuggled out a lot of money to foreign countries. Now, they are using that money to destabilise the country. We will not allow them to do so at any cost,鈥� Jahangir further said.
He said that he had directed the law enforcement agencies for beefing up patrolling.
The press conference was held hours after the Dhaka University students held protest processions on the campus demanding the home adviser鈥檚 resignation.
At another event in Rajshahi city on Monday, law adviser Asif Nazrul while speaking to journalists admitted the deterioration of law and order and said that law enforcement agencies would ramp up their effort in controlling the situation.
Earlier on February 8, the government launched 鈥極peration Devil Hunt鈥� to restore law and order with little visible outcome so far.
On Sunday night, a video went viral on social media showing a man to get shot and stabbed by a group riding motorbikes and wearing helmets.
The police identified the victim as gold trader Anwar Hossain, while his attackers remained unidentified. During the attack they also looted 130鈥�200 bharis of gold, the police said.
He is now undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital with three bullet and several stabbing wounds.
His wife Husne Ara Begum told 抖阴精品 that Anwar was attacked in front of the gate of their residence in Banasree at about 10:30pm on Sunday when he was returning home from his gold jewellery shop.
Seven armed muggers on three motorcycles stopped him and tried to snatch his bag, she said, adding that robbers shot him when he resisted and then fled with the bag.
鈥楾he gate usually closes at 11:30pm every night but the guard locked the gate before 10:30pm on Sunday amid rising crimes. When he was attacked, I begged them to open the gate but no one cared,鈥� she added.
Rampura police officer-in-charge Ataur Rahman Akondo said that victim鈥檚 wife Husne Ara filed a case regarding the incident on Monday.
Police were investigating the incident, added the police official.
The Dhaka Metropolitan Police data showed that 403 cases of mugging incidents were lodged with different police stations in the capital between November 2024 and January 2025.
Of them, 219 cases were filed in January, 118 were filed in December, 2024 while the number of cases were 66 in November in 2024.
At least 1,252 suspects were arrested in these cases between November 2024 and January 2025, according to the police data.
DMP data shows that 33 cases of mugging were reported in different police stations in Dhaka city in October, 17 cases in September and seven cases were reported in August.
The situation in Mohammadpur continued to worsen after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina regime on August 5 amid a student-led mass uprising.
Police officials said that Md Anwar, who was arrested on February 17, maintained gangs that carried out various crimes, including mugging in Mohammadpur and its surrounding areas.
In Mohammadpur, footage of muggers robbing two women travelling in a rickshaw went viral on Facebook at about 12:30am on Monday.
Adabor police station officer-in-charge SM Jakaria told 抖阴精品 that he heard that the incident occurred in Shekertek area.
鈥榃e saw the footage but the faces of the attackers were not clear. Mohammadpur police station was also aware of the incident. No one was arrested so far and the victims did not file any complaint with any of the police stations,鈥� he said.
Adabor OC Jakaria also said that a case was filed with his police station on February 19 regarding a recent mugging incident.
Besides, a case was filed with the police station after a man named Sumon Sheikh鈥檚 wrist was cut off by some muggers in Adabor area on January 30.