4 gang members arrested after stealing 100 cars
Using a master key, the gang stole cars in just two minutes
The Detective Branch (DB) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has recently arrested four members of a car stealing gang in the Brahmanbaria and Habiganj districts.
Eight private cars were seized from their possession.
According to DB sources, members of the gang used to steal private cars using a master key, in just two minutes. Police succeeded in tracing the gang after they stole over 100 cars.
DB sources said one Hridoy Pathan alias Uzzal Pathan, general secretary of Bangladesh Chhatra League's (BCL) Madhabpur upazila unit in Habiganj, was the leader of the gang.
After knowing of the issue, the central committee of BCL sacked him from the post, issuing a letter.
The other three arrestees are Nurul Hoque, Abdul Alim alias Emon and AH Rubel.
AKM Hafiz Akter, additional commissioner of DB told the Business Standard that the gang had stolen around 100 vehicles in Dhaka and Chattogram.
He said, "After stealing cars, members of the gang used to make fake documents and sell them in the districts."
"The gang consists of several teams. One team steals the car, another team makes fake documents and a third team uses them to sell the cars," he added.
Sources said a government official recently went to the BRTA office for testing the fitness of his car. He parked his car in front of the BRTA office before entering the office.
Coming out of the office, he saw that his car had been stolen. Then he filed a case with Kafrul Police Station in this regard on 21 January.
Scrutinising the CCTV footage collected from the surrounding areas, DB police identified and arrested Nurul Hoque, a member of the gang. And according to his information, police later arrested the other three gang members including the leader.
Sources said the gang targeted old car models. After targeting a car, a gang member would follow it.
He would wander around the targeted car. After getting a signal from others, he would open the door of the car using a master key. He would then use it to start the car.
The gang took only two minutes to do this. Then, driving the car, they went to Narayanganj or the 300 feet area in the capital.
Finally, the car was sent to Brahmanbariya, Habiganj or Moulvi Bazar to be sold.
The gang had a workshop for tampering with the engine and chassis numbers of stolen cars. After tampering with the engine and chassis numbers, they would make fake car documents and sell the vehicle for Tk1 to Tk2 lakh.
