Dhaka jewellery heist: Two burqa-clad suspects carry lock-breaking tools
Both individuals were dressed in black burqas with their faces covered. They carried several tools used for breaking locks. Neither wore shoes as they cautiously walked down the corridor toward Shampa Jewellers, quietly communicating with each other while pointing at the shop’s collapsible gate.
It was 3:07 a.m., 9 October 2025. The corridor of the market was lit, but all the shops were closed. At one corner near Shampa Jewellers, the one in front stopped, peered around and looked to see if anyone was there.
The other burqa-clad person also looked around afterward. They examined the condition of the collapsible gate of Shampa Jewellers, moving about the area.
At one point, they went to the part of the corridor where the light was dimmer and began breaking the lock of the gate of Shampa Jewellers. Meanwhile, one of them tried to damage a nearby closed-circuit (CCTV) camera.
Shampa Jewellers is located on the second floor of Fortune Shopping Mall in Malibagh, Dhaka. The owner of the jewellery shop is Achintya Kumar Biswas.
Achintya Kumar Biswas told Prothom Alo today, Thursday that he and his employees closed the shop around 9:00 p.m. yesterday, Wednesday, and went home. He received a call from a security guard at the market around 6:30 a.m. today and rushed to the shop.
Upon arrival, he found everything gone. The locks were broken. Around 400 bhori of his own gold ornaments and 100 bhori of pawned gold were missing. In addition, Tk 40,000 in cash kept in the register had also been stolen.
Achintya suspects that the market’s security guards might be involved in the incident.
Currently, the price of gold in the country’s market is over Tk 200,000 per bhori. By that measure, the value of the 400 bhori of his own ornaments amounts to more than Tk 80 million, according to Achintya. The financial loss from the 100 bhori of pawned gold adds to that figure.
Police visited the scene this morning after receiving the report of the theft. So far, they have not been able to arrest anyone involved in the incident.
Police said there is some confusion regarding the total amount of gold stolen. However, they are reviewing footage from all CCTV cameras in the shopping mall to identify the thieves.
Md Masud Alam, Deputy Commissioner of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (Ramna Division), told Prothom Alo that security guards were on duty in front of the shopping mall. The shop owners and employees closed the market and went home last night. The thieves then broke the grill of a window at the back of the market and entered.
Golam Faruk, officer-in-charge (OC) of Ramna police station, told Prothom Alo that CCTV footage shows the grill of a second-floor window at the back of the shopping mall was broken.
It is believed that the thieves entered the mall through that window and then broke into the gate of Shampa Jewellers on the first floor. Inside, they broke open the showcases and stole the gold ornaments, he added.
Police are examining all CCTV footage from the shopping mall to identify the culprits, the OC added.
Earlier, on 5 October, thieves cut through the shutter of a jewellery shop in Jatrabari, Dhaka, and stole about 125 bhori of gold ornaments and Tk 275,000 in cash.
A case over that incident was filed at Jatrabari Police Station on 7 October.