A mob beat five suspected robbers to death and injured another at Habibnagar of Kadamtoli in the capital early yesterday.
They also recovered 11 knives and eight pieces of equipment intended for breaking into houses.
Two of the dead were identified as Firoz, 28, and Ameer, 30. The rest could not be identified.
Suspect Nazrul Islam was undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital and was stated to be in critical condition.
Police also arrested another robber of the gang Md Mahfuz, 25.
Among the five dead, two died on the spot while three others died at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Locals and community leaders of the area said following recent escalation of robbery incidents they introduced neighbourhood watch at night in the area. A team of the neighbourhood watch saw 25-30 men together at dead of night and they were behaving suspiciously.
Officer-in-Charge of Kadamtoli Police Station Kazi Ayubur Rahman said the team approached the gang around 3:30am and an altercation ensued over the gang’s intentions.
Mamunur Rashid, joint secretary of Habibnagar Samaj Kalyan Sangsad, told The Daily Star, “We were patrolling the area to resist robbers at night in two groups. Our group was of six people. When we asked them they identified themselves as labourers but we did not believe them. Later one of them brandished a sharp weapon.
“We screamed seeing the weapon. Later hundreds of people of the area came out of their homes and chased them.”
The mob of around 400 people captured seven of the gang and gave six of them a good beating. The others managed to flee. A few locals were injured when the suspects used iron rods in their desperate attempt get away.
Mansur Ali Farazi, general secretary of Habibnagar Panchayet Committee, told The Daily Star that they caught robber Mahfuz who was hiding in a lake. He is now in police custody.
Mahfuz told them that four robbers jumped into the lake and two others were caught while one is still at large.
Locals had cordoned off the lake until yesterday noon to search for more robbers.
Ismail Begh Pintu, general secretary of Habibnagar Samaj Kalyan Sangsad, told The Daily Star that five robbery incidents took place in the area in just one month and that they had informed police about their neighbourhood watch.
Arrested Mahfuz told The Daily Star that he was going without food onboard a launch heading to Dhaka from Barisal. He claimed that the gang of around 29 men gave him food and asked him if he would work with them as a labourer. He said the gang held a meeting on the deck around midnight. He said he went to Habibnagar from Sadarghat launch terminal on a bus.
Gazi Mozammel Hoque, deputy commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, said the area’s major problem is robbery. “We will increase patrolling there. The locals of the area are also very active and the community policing will be strengthened,” he said.
Police filed three cases in this connection; one under Arms Act.
The other two were attempted robbery and murder. There were no accused mentioned in the murder case.
OC Ayubur said they took the 11 sharp weapons and the equipment into their custody.
