At least 27 people, most of them cattle traders, landed in hospital after being drugged unconscious by organised gangs since Tuesday morning, the police and hospital sources said.
Sources in Dhaka Medical College Hospital said 27 people who had been drugged unconscious received treatment at the hospital from the day before Eid-ul-Azha to Thursday evening.
On Tuesday, the police found 13 cattle traders unconscious, including Shahadat, 30, Biswanath, 28, Tahil, 40, Aynal, 60, of Manikganj district, Rasul, 37, Siraj, 40, Azgar, 28, and Jadav, 40, of Rajshahi district, Mujibar, 42, Salauddin,35, and Reaz,40, of Rajbari district and Adbul Hakim, 60, in the Kamalapur railway station area in the city, though security was beefed up ahead of Eid.
Biplob, 40, and Hafizul, 40, Moslehuddin, 30, and Khorshed, 40, of Kushtia were found unconscious at Jatrabari in the city while Kajal, 35, at Saydabad bus terminal, the police said.
The Darussalam police found two victims of drugging – Manu Bepari, 50, and Baheduddin,70, of Dhamrai – at Gabtali bus terminal.
The Darussalam police also took to hospital four unnamed people aged 30 to 35 from the Gabtali cattle market area, the hospital sources said.
The police found Rezaul Karim, 25, of Narsingdi drugged unconscious in Kamalapur railway station area on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the pedestrians found Khairul Alam, 24, of Rampura, Ashraf, 40, of Mahakhali, and Awal, 40, of Khilgaon, unconscious in Mahakhali area and sent them to Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
The doctors said some victims remained unconscious for more than 24 hours as drugging gangs used strong sedatives.
Darussalam police officer-in-charge Abdul Malek confirmed only two of the 27 cases and said they had recovered the money stolen from the victims.
The Motijheel police officer-in-charge Tofazzal Hossain said that he did not have any information about such incidents.
The police said drugging gangs locally known as ‘aggyan party’ or ‘malam party’ usually commit the crime at night.
DMP detective branch additional deputy commissioner Mollah Nazrul Islam said the gang drugged cattle traders unconscious in the guise of tea-vendors in different cattle markets in the city.
