Mugging with machetes in broad daylight at Moghbazar, video goes viral

A video showing muggers snatching the bag of a young man in broad daylight while wielding machetes has gone viral on the social media.

Police say the incident took place in the afternoon on 18 May at Greenway Lane in Dhaka’s Moghbazar. The victim is Abdullah, a youth from Cumilla.

In connection to the incident, Abdullah filed a case with Hatirjheel police station in the capital on Sunday night accusing three unidentified men.

Md Raju, officer-in-charge (OC) of Hatirjheel police station, told Prothom Alo that the incident is from about a week ago but the victim did not report it to the police. After the video went viral online, police tracked the victim down, and he filed a case with the police station around midnight on Sunday.

The CCTV camera footage circulated on social media shows a young man walking down a narrow lane with a bag slung over his shoulder. A motorcycle with three riders was parked near the gate of a house a little further down the lane. As soon as the young man reached the gate, two passengers from the motorcycle blocked his path.

One of them was wearing a helmet, while the other had a mask on. Both of them had machetes. They struck the young man with the machetes and snatched his bag.

As they attempted to flee on the motorcycle, the victim tried to follow them. At that point, the attackers struck him again with the machetes before hopping onto the motorcycle.

The CCTV footage further shows the victim blocking their path, holding onto its front wheel, pleading them to return his bag. Then two of the attackers got off the motorcycle to attack him again with machetes, this time forcing him to move away.

The driver of the bike, also wearing a helmet, moved forward with the motorcycle, while one of the attackers holding the stolen bag followed him closely.  The other attacker was still brandishing the machete to scare the victim. Later, the third attacker also moved towards the motorcycle.

The victim, visibly helpless, continued pleading with them to return his bag trailing the attackers from behind. One of them again swung the machete at him to stop him from following them. The victim was then seen to take a few steps back.

Officer-in-charge (OC) of Hatirjheel police station, Md Raju told Prothom Alo that efforts are on to nab the three muggers.