Police appear helpless to prevent such crimes, ask people to be brave
Posing as law enforcers, different gangs continue to mug people in the capital as the authorities are yet to find effective ways to prevent such crimes.
Police high-ups suggest that people act with courage and ask for the identities of anybody claiming themselves to be members of law enforcers.
These gangs of fake law enforcers are equipped with wireless sets and handcuffs, their cars labeled with “Police” signs.
In a latest development, police on Sunday arrested a 10-member gang from the capital’s Mirpur and recovered a pair of handcuffs, a wireless set and a microbus with a sticker that reads “Police”.
The gangsters were caught around 7:30pm when they were preparing to mug posing as members of Detective Branch of Police.
Two of them — Arifuzzaman Sharif of Kishoreganj and Md Selim of Comilla — spent four months in jail on the same charges. They were released on bail a few months ago.
Another, Nannu Mia, 35, of Barisal recently joined the gang after being sacked from the armed forces, said Kazi Wazed Ali, officer-in-charge of Mirpur Police Station.
Wazed Ali said the criminals bought the handcuffs from the city’s Polwel Market.
In the last one year, police and Rab arrested more than 100 persons for cheating and mugging people in guise of law enforcers.
The Police Headquarters in September last year directed all its units not to use stickers inscribing “Police” on any vehicles that are not owned by the police department.
The directive came in the wake of a rise in the incidents of cheating and mugging by fake law enforcers.
AKM Shahidul Hoque, additional inspector general of police, said the order was circulated within the force so that none of their members can misuse power.
Asked about how the general people can identify the fake law enforcers, he said people should ask for the identity cards of anybody claiming themselves to be police.
He also recommended that the people keep the contact numbers of different law enforcing agencies so that they can call them for help.
Replying to a query, Shahidul Hoque said he would talk to the Dhaka Metropolitan Police commissioner for making a public circular about the ban on sticker written “Police” on private cars.
-With The Daily Star input
