A rented microbus carrying a female expatriate and her family was robbed on the Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge highway in Tangail early Saturday.
Sensing the robbery, the Highway Police on patrol chased the gang that fired back at them, injuring its wrecker driver, the police said.
The incident took place at about 2:30am in Pushtakamuri Charpara bypass area of Mirzapur upazila on the highway.
Sumaiya Akhter, a passenger in the microbus, said that they rented the microbus to return home with her sister-in-law Beauty Akhter who worked in Jordan.
‘She landed at the Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport at Friday night. We rented a microbus from Tongi. My sisters-in-law Beauty and Sampa, their children and father-in-law Abdul Hamid and I were in the microbus,’ she said.
When their microbus reached Pushtakamuri Charpara it was intercepted by another microbus, she said, adding that just as they got out of the microbus, 7-8 robbers held them at gunpoint.
They looted 5–6 mobile phones, Tk 70,000 in cash and other goods, Sumaiya said.
Mirzapur police officer-in-charge Mohammad Rasedul Islam said that on information a police team rushed to the spot.
‘A microbus abandoned by the robbers and another carrying the expatriate were recovered from the scene,’ he said.
A wrecker driver named Tuhin was shot and admitted to Kumudini Hospital, the OC said.
A series of highway robberies caused panic among passengers in recent times.
Earlier, a palm oil-laden truck was hijacked in Dhamrai on May 29, a bus was robbed and female passengers were molested on the eastern side of the Jamuna Bridge on the Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge highway on May 21, and a bus of Unique Royals was robbed in Mirzapur on February 17.
