City residents plagued by 'spidermen' thieves
The name’s Ismail Hossain but, he’s better known as ‘spiderman’ among his associates. He got this cool nickname for being able to scale the walls and pipes of tall buildings just like a spider.
In the police’s definition however, Ismail is a professional burglar. Ismail’s one of those thieves in Dhaka who’s master of sawing grills and breaking into houses.
He has 20 members in his gang, most of whom are informers. Based on that information, Ismail goes into action with his gang.
Police, based on the information derived from interrogating a few of the thieves like Ismail, said that burglars are most active during long holidays.
People usually go on trips during this time leaving their apartments empty. The thieves guess which house is empty by marking whether the lights are on in the evening or not.
These thieves have turned into a great cause of alarm for the city dwellers, as thefts of this sort are on the rise.
According to Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) records, 713 burglary cases have been filed in Dhaka in 2022, which is 23 per cent more from the previous year. Notably, police records such break-ins where window grills are sawed, as burglaries.
Meanwhile, concerned people say that actual burglary incidents are much higher than the number of cases filed. In many cases the victims don’t want to go through the trouble of filing a case. Many don’t even hope to get back the stolen items, if the case is filed.
Some complain that police aren’t committed to investigating theft cases. They don’t pursue the case till ensuring punishment for the thieves. Many times, the final case report is submitted without investigation. As a consequence, the same thieves steal year after year.
DMP commissioner (crime) Biplob Bijoy Talukder told Prothom Alo, it is not true that the police is reluctant to probe burglary. There will be investigation if there’s a case. If the case cannot be proved even after investigating it for a long time, just the final report is submitted then.
Police said that ‘spiderman’ Ismail has got out on bail. Police had arrested Ismail along with two of his associates in last September.
The reason was that Ismail had stolen goods worth Tk 1.25 million (12.5 lakh) climbing into the ninth storey of a ten-storey building in Dhaka’s Eskaton last year’s April. He broke into the apartment sawing the grill on the kitchen-window.
Citing the interrogation, DMP-associated officials said that Ismail is extremely cunning. He keeps his cellphone switched off during burglary, so that he cannot be tracked using information technology.
He used to live in Keraniganj and traveled to Dhaka for burglaries. Police officials however failed to say where Ismail is now, after getting out on bail.
There has even been murder when burglaries went wrong. A man named Hanif had gone to steal from a factory sawing the grill in Kunipara of Dhaka’s Tejgaon Industrial area on 9 January. Police say that he killed security guard Hashim for obstructing the theft and ran away. Police has arrested Hanif in this case.
In the guise of a roaming vendor, selling cosmetics during the day, he used to map out which buildings to break in. And, during the night, he used to steal from homes, offices and factories by sawing or breaking the grills.
Concern at DMP’s meeting
The crime review meeting of December was held at DMP on 18 January. According to police sources, DMP commissioner Khandoker Golam Faruque has expressed concern over incidents of burglaries at homes. He told field level police officers to focus on preventing this sort of theft.
It came up in DMP’s discussion that stolen goods don’t get recovered in most cases and the accused don’t get arrested either. And, in many times the final report is submitted before the court without even solving the case.
There are grudges that the level of seriousness in investigation, submission of charge sheets in the court and testimony during the trial are required to ensure that a burglar is convicted, isn’t provided by police.
A DMP official of the deputy commissioner rank wishing to remain anonymous told Prothom Alo that DMP has a 'monitoring cell' to supervise investigation of significant cases. Basically, five types of cases - murder, rape, robbery, mugging and kidnapping are dealt at the meetings of this cell.
Investigating officers are asked about the progress of investigation in these cases. Meanwhile, progress of the theft case isn’t inquired about and so police don’t to pay much attention to theft incidents.
DMP had held a press conference last September after arresting the leader of the ‘burglar gang’ named Azizul Fakir. Police then had said that he was an expert in sawing grills. He had led more than 500 burglaries. When contacted over the phone on Wednesday evening, Azizul told Prothom Alo that he was released on bail long ago.
‘Petty crimes’, but big losses
Security guards are employed on high-rise buildings in the capital. There are area-based night watchmen as well. Local residents pay for this security. And, obviously there are locks at homes.
On the other hand, closed circuit (CCTV) cameras have been installed at different spots of Dhaka with public tax money. Many people have installed CCTV cameras at homes on their own. Still, it’s tough to ensure complete security.
Some of the victims say that in order to prevent theft, conviction of the thief must be ensured. If, after being caught, one can get out of jail on bail after a few months, and the trial doesn’t end, thieves are bound to be encouraged.
Theft may be a petty crime to police, but to the victims it’s the loss of their lifelong savings or wealth. Many families fall into a spiral of financial crisis due to theft. Now, incidents of murder are happening too.
There was a burglary at the house of Abrar Hossain, located at Hatirjheel area of Dhaka in May last year. Thieves had stolen goods worth Tk 1 million (10 lakh) including 58.3 grams (5 bhori) of gold jewelries. Even after about nine months of the incident, police haven’t been able to identify the thieves.
Abrar's relative Ishtiaq Iman enquires follows case. He told Prothom Alo that police have reviewed the CCTV footage but failed to identify the thieves.
Police have said different things at different times, such as some of the CCTV footage is blurry; some of the CCTV cameras haven’t recorded any footage and so on.
Failing to identify anyone, police are now planning to submit the final report of the case before the court. Police could’ve caught the thieves if they had paid attention, claimed Ishtiaq.
*This report appeared in the print and online versions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Nourin Ahmed Monisha.