Staff Correspondent:
A police press briefing was held in Mymensingh on Saturday. Four (4) members of a kidnapping and ransom gang were arrested in a District Detective Branch (DB) operation; the private car used in the crime was recovered. On December 26, 2024, a gang abducted the regional manager of 'Dainik Prothom Alo' newspaper, Mymensingh, from Digharkanda bypass, put him in a private car and took him to various places on the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway, threatened him with a sharp weapon, robbed him of his cash and mobile phone, and called his close relatives and family members from his mobile phone and collected a total of two lakh taka in ransom through bKash. They dropped him off injured in the Chelerghat area under Trishal police station and headed towards Dhaka.
After this incident, when the district police received information about multiple incidents of a similar nature in Gazipur, Sreepur, Mauna, Bhaluka and Phulpur, a team of the Mymensingh District Detective Branch started working to identify and arrest the gang. The last time on February 5, 2025, when they went out in a private car to kidnap another victim in the same way, the District Detective Branch received information about their location through secret sources and an expedition team was able to arrest four active members of this gang by conducting raids in different areas of Mauna and Sreepur on Trishal, Bhaluka-Gafargaon Road and Dhaka-Mymensingh Highway on February 6 and 7. The arrested are- 1. Md. Shahadat Hossain (46) Father: Md. Abdul Kader Address: Khalmaga, Chhota Patharghata, Patharghata, Barguna Currently: Tek Kathura, Salna Dotala Mosque, Gazipur Sadar, Gazipur.
2. Abdus Salam (45) Father: Md. Abdul Quader Address: Khalmaga, Chhota Patharghata, Patharghata, Barguna Present: Tanbandi, Mukhi School Bazar, Pagla, Mymensingh. 3. Md. Shikhan Ali (20) Father: Deceased Fakir Ali Address: Bakherkanda, Bagbari Bazar Sherpur Sadar, Sherpur. 4. Md. Abu Taher (35) Father: Deceased Eshak Ali Address: Sonapur, Muktagachha, Mymensingh.
During the arrest, a private car used in the crime, 05 (five) mobile phones and cash of 87,000/- Taka were recovered from them. The main mastermind of the gang, Shahadat, joined this crime about 8 years ago while he was a private car driver at the Maona bus stand, has committed more than 50 kidnappings and ransoms in the same manner at different times and during this long period he has served about two years in prison in three phases. He was last identified with Taher, who was arrested in Kashimpur jail and about two months ago they were released from jail and returned to their old profession. Shahadat's elder brother Salam and his relative Shikhan used to assist them in this work and played various roles such as taking the victim in the car, beating him and snatching money and talking to family members on the phone. A review of the bKash account used by them shows that they have transacted about one million Taka in the last two months. During the operation of the District Intelligence Branch, 6 more active members of the gang were found. Efforts to arrest them and the process of taking legal action against those arrested are ongoing.
