It was almost a one man show. Though the idea was conceived by one of his relations, Habib alias Sohel Rana, who was arrested by the RAB yesterday, told The Independent that he alone had dug the 25 feet tunnel into the vault room of the bank. “The blueprint of the burglary at the Kishoreganj branch of Sonali Bank was made one-and-a-half-years ago and during this long period I took the guise of a carpenter to accomplish the mission,” Habib said. ‘‘I worked in the Polly Cables for over 15 years. In 2008, I went to Dubai and worked there for three years in a construction firm,” he added narrating his background.
The mastermind said from Dubai he remitted Tk 5 lakh to Siraj alias foreman Siraj, a maternal uncle of his wife, for a business. But when he demanded the money back on his return from Dubai, Siraj suggested him (Habib) that he could be a millionaire overnight if he would commit the bank burglary.
“Primarily I was reluctant, but in the middle of 2012 I took the mission as Siraj Mama was showing no sign to repay my money,” he said adding that he had then changed his name to Shohel Rana.
His first move was to rent a roadside house opposite the bank branch and within a month he started digging the tunnel from that house.
Habib claimed that he used to dig the tunnel during the daytime so that the sound could not be heard due to the noise of day traffic.
Before the last Eid-ul Azha, he discovered that his tunnel ended at the ground floor balcony of the bank, not into the vault room, Habib said.
Then he made intimacy with Abu Bakar, a staff of the bank, to know the exact location of the vault room.
After digging the tunnel into the desired destination, he entered into the vault room of the bank at around 8:30pm on Friday last.
‘‘Seeing the huge amount money kept on the table, I was overwhelmed with joy and returned to my room to bring jute sacks for carrying the money” he said.
He then moved to Shyampur area of Narayanganj with the money by a rented pick-up van.
“I also bought 230 bags of rice to put the money sacks under the rice bags. But a tyre of the van got burst on the way in Narsingdhi. Later I had to hire another pick-up van to reach Shyampur,” he said.
Habib then rented a house and contacted his friend Edris.
“I told him to stay with me in the house,” he added.
“On Tuesday, I received a phone call from a policeman who wanted to know my current location. I thought Edris informed the police of my hideout,” Habib said while concluding his story.
Talking to The Independent Edris, who was also arrested with Habib, claimed that he knew nothing about the burglary.
Talking to The Independent, Major Towfiq Ahmed of RAB-10, who led the operation to nab Habib, said, ‘We arrested Haib on Tuesday noon.”
Courtesy of The Independent
