Joynal Abedin Khan :
Extortion from and hijacking of Dhaka-bound sacrificial cattle-laden trucks have marked a sharp rise on the coutry’s highways.
Traders and stakeholders have blamed insufficient police patrols for rise of crimes, intelligence sources said.
“Around 500 members of 40 organized highway robber and snatcher gangs are active. Some drivers, mechanics and helpers cooperate with the gangs,” they alleged. In 48 hours, muggers and robbers have attacked many cattle trucks in the capital’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Aminbazar, Bogra and Gazipur districts.
In capital, five traders were attacked and their cattle-laden truck hijacked near the National Parliament Bhaban on Saturday morning. Injured Chandu, 45, Masud, 24, Tanzimul, 25, Sujon, 26, Thandu, 45, took treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
The traders were bringing a batch of cows to Dhaka, Mozammel Haque, in-charge of the DMCH police outpost, said quoting the victims.
The hijackers waylaid them with a van near the Parliament, he said. The traders were stabbed clubbed. Sixteen cows were forcibly taken from them.
The truck was seized from Ashulia within hours and the driver nabbed, said Debasish Biswas, SI of Sher-e-Bangla Nagar Police Station. “Driver Sujon has been arrested but the cows are missing. We are trying our best to recover the cows,” he said.
Another truck, carrying 23 animals, was snatched near Aminbazar Bridge, on the outskirts of the capital on Thursday. Nur Mohammad, a trader who hailed from Manikganj Singair, said that the miscreants snatched the animals near Gabtoli at dawn.
The cattle were brought from Benapole of Jessore, he said. “If lawmen were on duty in the area, the incident might not happened.”
Meanwhile, muggers snatched away a truck loaded with 19 cattle from a group of cattle traders at Mirer Bazar in the Gazipur district early Thursday. Victim traders said that they bought 19 cattle from Rajshahi and were heading towards Noakhali for selling those on Wednesday night, said Khandaker Rezaul Karim, OC of Joydebpur Police Station. They snatched Tk 30,000, five mobile phone sets and 19 cattle along with the truck and decamped leaving the traders into Rajendrapur jungle. Police recovered the truck from Mouchak area in an abandoned condition. In Bogra’s Shahjahanpur area, a truck loaded with 20 head of cattle was attacked around 12:30am on Friday while going to Laxmipur from Rangpur. Truck driver Iqbal Hossain pulled his livestock-laden vehicle up to the side of the road, complaining of engine trouble, according to a complaint filed later with Shahjahan Police Station.
The driver told Yeasin Ali, Shapan and Abu Sayed, the owners of the cattle, to get out of the vehicle and push it from behind, said Abdul Mannan OC of the police station. Cattle trader Munir Uddin said that he paid tolls at eight points on the road to get his 16 cattle from Chuadanga to Gabtoli cattle market.
Munir said that he had to pay the police, highway police, local strongmen and ferry terminals on both sides of the river to get his livestock to market.
He says that he paid Tk 200 at Savar, Tk 150 at Manikganj, Tk 200 at Aricha, Tk 500 at Dauladtia, Tk 150 at Faridpur, Tk 150 at Magura.
Rubel, a cattle trader who arrived in Gabtoli from Kurigram with 21 head of cattle, said he had to pay Tk 2,100 at various points. He claimed to have paid between Tk 50 and Tk 150 to various men, including the police.
Assistant Inspector General of Police Headquarters Nazrul Islam said that the inspector general of police had directed his force not to stop cattle trucks without good reason.
Highway Police Deputy Inspector General Mollik Fakrul Islam said that tight security had been on all highways. He vowed to stop highway crimes at any cost. Police in plain clothes have been deployed to stop extortion. “We have to cover over 12,000-kilometre long highway in the country with only 2,200 members.” Rustom Ali Khan, Secretary of the Bangladesh Truck and Covered Van Owners Association, claimed that assurances of security are routinely given in the meetings with ministry officials, police and highway police before every Eid, but they are seldom enforced.
