What the highway police are doing?

We often hear about wealthy businessmen and industrialists, but now we are hearing about a wealthy thief, Shahed. Over the past 21 years he has orchestrated the theft of goods from 5,000 trucks and covered vans. This wealthy thief owns two homes, a brick field and 29 lorries. Shahed's misdemeanour brings home the fact once again that poverty does not drive people to theft. Resorting to theft in order to become rich has become almost endemic in Bangladesh.

Earlier we would hear of fuel and spare parts of vehicles being stolen on the highways. But such theft entails high risk, low profits. And so the highway robbers have turned their eyes to readymade garments being transported along the highway for export.

Shahed and his accomplices have shown incredible expertise in theft and robbery, while the law enforcement, that is, the highway police, remain inert. It was only on 17 September this year that Shahed was finally arrested by the detective police and is now in jail. There are 24 cases against him. He was arrested last year too only to emerge from jail after eight months and return to his old profession.

The 'Shahed bahini' is not the only highway robbery gang. There are several other criminal gangs active on the highways. Certain covered van drivers are in cahoots with them. According to the detective police, after the goods are loaded at the factories and the lorries set out, the drivers inform the others about the route and timings. According to plan, the vehicle halts at a specified spot on the highway. From there it is taken to secret warehouses in Gazipur, Siddhirganj of Narayanganj, Chandina in Cumilla or Mirsarai and Sitakunda in Chattogram. The robbers break the locks on the doors of the lorries, remove garments from the bottom on the cartons and fill the space with sand, rags and mud, and then reseal it.

According to BGMEA, highway robbery is on the rise. In 2019, there were two such incidents. In 2020, nine such incidents took place. And this year till July, 22 such incidents have taken place. This is a cause for rising concern among the apparel factory owners.

Leaders of the RMG exports association, BGMEA, held a meeting with home minister Asaduzzaman Khan in July. At the meeting, a committee to prevent robbery along the Dhaka-Chattogram highway was formed. The committee, headed by the additional inspector general of highway police, also comprised representatives of BGMEA, law enforcement agencies and Bangladesh Covered Van Owners' Association. The home minister that time said that CCTV cameras would be set up along the Dhaka-Chattogram highway to prevent the robbery.

Simply setting up CCTV cameras will not be effective unless the criminal gangs and their accomplices are punished. The Bangladesh truck-covered van, transport agency owners association must verify whether the papers of the transport agencies are valid, monitoring teams regarding such theft must be set up under the joint initiative of BGMEA, BKMEA and FBCCI, vehicles must not be searched at random spots, the vehicles carrying export goods should use BGMEA stickers and the government should ensure implementation of the proposal to prevent these vehicles from deviating from the main route.

The garment exporters association must also be alert about the safety and security of the vehicles in which the goods are being transported.