Panaji: Six Bangladeshi men from a gang of dacoits have been finally arrested by Delhi police crime branch, following an exchange of gunfire. For more than a year, the men had evaded arrest, after carrying out the Mapusa and Dona Paula dacoities by tying up, assaulting and holding the victim families hostage during the heist.Police said the dacoits had illegally entered India and committed dacoities across the country in Delhi, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Goa. The accused mostly targeted senior citizens, robbing gold and cash, and then crossing over to Bangladesh to evade arrest in India. The gang operated in this manner for nearly seven to eight years, police said.The cases in Goa had been transferred to Goa police crime branch in Jan this year and they had been gathering clues to trace the accused. The team involved in cracking the case included personnel from cyber cell and North Goa district police. The intelligence generated was shared with Delhi police team.Soon the accused will be taken on a transfer warrant and brought to Goa, police said.The arrested accused include Suman Hauldhar (35), Saifful Islam (31), Sohail Sheikh (35), Md Nasir (48), Noor Islam (56), and Zakir Haldar (40). However, two accused persons namely Shakayat and Illiyas, also Bangladeshi residents escaped from the spot taking the cover of darkness. Each is involved in at least 14 criminal cases, including murders.The Bangladeshi dacoits had first targeted Delhi and thereafter shifted to other parts of the country. During last year this gang had targeted Goan families twice.During the intervening night of April 14 and 15, Delhi police crime branch intercepted the gang based on lead received and developed by SI Ashok Kumar. The information revealed that an armed gang of Bangladeshi dacoits wanted for a trail of cases of robbery, murder and dacoity will gather in a secluded forest area near the Sarai Kale Khan cremation ground for committing dacoity in South Delhi.“The team under the direct supervision of DCP Sanjeev Kumar Yadav and the operational leadership of ACP Pankaj Arora laid a trap and cornered the gang near Sarai Kale Khan, where the criminals, in a bid to evade their arrest, defied surrender warnings given by the team and opened fire at the officers. Police team overpowered the gang and apprehended them,” police have said.Police recovered four country-made pistols, live ammunition, and house-breaking tools from the gang. “They paid human smugglers to help them slip back into Bangladesh and strictly avoided using mobile phones to stay invisible to police tracking,” said police.
