Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) on Saturday arrested the alleged mastermind behind the burglary of Tk 16.4 crore from the main branch of Sonali Bank in Kishoreganj town.
The arrested person has been identified as Sirajuddin Bhuiyan, alias Siraj 62, uncle-in-law of Yusuf Munshi alias Habib alias Sohel whom the elite force arrested along with the looted money from Shyampur in the capital on January 28.
Additional Director General of RAB (Operations) Colonel Ziaul Ahsan told The New Nation that acting on a tip-off, a team of the Bhairab camp of RAB-9 conducted a drive at a village and arrested Siraj at about 5:00 am.
The law enforcers later produced him before the Kishoreganj Judicial Magistrate’s Court with a 10-day remand prayer the court fixed February 24 for hearing.
Siraj, of Uttar Pumdi village of Hossainpur upazila in the district, was arrested with his ex-colleague Idris alias Motahar in the capital’s Shyampur area with Tk 16.19 crore of the looted money on January 28, two days after the incident came to the light.
The detention of Siraj was made on information given by Sohel, the key person behind the burglary that was committed digging a tunnel between an adjacent residential building and the vault of the bank.
Two bank officials discovered the heist on January 26 after they entered the second cell of the bank’s vault to get money for transactions.
After his arrest, Sohel said at a press conference that he got the idea of the burglary from Siraj, uncle of his second wife.
Siraj first made the plan two years back, and accordingly, they rented the tin-roofed house beside the bank in early 2012, Sohel said in his statement.
The tunnel was dug to the vault from the nearby building only 20 yards away from the bank on Isa Khan Road at Rathkhola. A narrow alley separates the bank and the building.
The heist case was first filed to Kishoreganj Sadar Police Station but RAB took the charge of the case on February 6 on order of the High Court.
Sheikh Amanullah, deputy general manager of the bank, filed a case against some unidentified people on January 26 night.
