RAB rescues child abducted from Lalbagh

The Rapid Action Battalion, or RAB, says that it has rescued an 8-month-old child abducted during a robbery at a home in Dhaka’s Lalbagh.

In a statement on Sunday morning, the elite force said they rescued the child Jaifa from Dhaka’s Mohammadpur area around midnight on Friday and arrested a woman in connection with the crime.

 “Fatema Akhtar Shapla, who was subletting the house, has been arrested. The child was with her and was rescued,” said RAB-10 Senior Assistant Superintendent of Police Taposh Karmakar.

 “Immediately after the rescue, the child was returned to her mother.”

Additional details will be provided at a press conference in the afternoon, RAB said.

A group of robbers attacked the home of Abu Jafar and Farzana Akhtar on the ground floor of a two-storey building near Dhaka’s Lalbagh on Friday afternoon. They abducted the child during the robbery.

Several teams of police and RAB took to the field to rescue the child and arrest the perpetrators after the incident.

Family and neighbours said that a woman who began staying at the house as a ‘paying guest’ on Thursday and three other men conducted the robbery.

Md Rana, a family friend and husband of Farzana’s co-worker, said that they rushed to the house when the incident was reported and found the wardrobes pilfered and that even the jewellery on Farzana’s nose and ears had been taken.

Farzana told him that the robbers had stolen Tk 150,000 from the wardrobe and said, “We are sending your child to India,” before they left.

Farzana’s mother and father had been staying at the home for the past month to look after the child. They left for their ancestral home in Barishal on Friday morning. Farzana’s ‘paying guest’ began staying at the house on Thursday night.

Three men came to the house soon after Farzana’s parents left. The paying guest opened the door for them.

CCTV camera footage showed they entered the house at 8:59am. They tied up Farzana, looted the house, and left with the child at 9:24am.

HOW THE CRIME OCCURRED

Md Rana said that Farzana had told him of meeting the paying guest on a staff bus. The woman told Farzana that she worked in the government transport pool and was studying at Jagannath University. Once the two had developed a relationship, Farzana invited her to stay at their house.

Farzana told Rana and his wife that, after her parents left, the woman said she was going to the market. She returned a short time later. A bit after that, the doorbell rang and the woman opened the door. Three men then entered.

 “They attacked Farzana as soon as they entered. They tied her up, looted their money and left with the child.”