Zakir Azad, Cumilla

More than 50 robberies, have been committed in the last four months in Lalmai upazila. Ninety percent of these have occurred in the homes of expatriates.

The target of the robbers is now the 'expatriate family'. This has created fear among expatriates and their families. It has been learned from the victim's family, expatriates and the police that a double robbery took place at the home of Azizul Haque Khokon, an expatriate from Italy, and Zahirul Haque Ripon, an expatriate from France, son of the deceased Shamsul Haque, in Alokdia village on the border of Nurpur in Baki Uttar Union of the upazila at 1.40 am on Tuesday .

The robbers tied up the expatriate's sister-in-law and held the family members hostage at gunpoint, looting 120,000 taka in cash, 12 gold ornaments and an Android mobile set from the cupboard of the house. On December 7, at 3 am, the house of two sons of Habibur Rahman, Saudi expatriates Minhaj Uddin Sabuj and Salman Jahan Sajib, was robbed in Dattapur Paschimpara, Bagmara Uttar Union of the upazila.

The robbers broke into the cupboard of the expatriate's house and looted 300,000 taka in cash and gold ornaments, and stabbed and injured the expatriate's father Habibur Rahman (60). He has been in the ICU of a private hospital in Dhaka since the incident. On September 24, at 3 am, a double robbery took place in the house of Shahjalal, the expatriate son of Aminul Haque Majumder Member of Jagatpur village, Perul Uttar Union.

The robbers hacked and seriously injured the expatriate's father and looted cash and gold ornaments in the house. The robbers exploded a cocktail while leaving the house. The expatriate's father died while undergoing treatment in the ICU a month after the robbery. The same night, the house of Saudi expatriate Kabir Hossain in Joynagar village of Bagmara South Union of the upazila was robbed. The robbers beat up the family members and looted the cash. On September 15, at 1:30 am, the house of Kamal Singh, a private employee of the Buddhist community in Joynagar village of Bagmara South Union of the upazila, was robbed.

The robbers looted the gold ornaments and cash in the house. In addition, three robberies and muggings occurred in Kanchikata on the Cumilla -Noakhali regional highway and Kalmiya on the Cumilla -Bangda road. In both of these, expatriate returnees were the victims. However, the police could not arrest anyone in these two incidents. In the Alokdia robbery incident, Abdullah Al Maksud Majumdar Russell, the brother-in-law of the expatriates and a resident of the Racecourse area of Cumilla , said, "My elderly mother-in-law lives alone at home.

That's why I live with my family at my in-laws' house. On Monday night, at about 1.15 am, some people started banging on the door from outside. Who? When asked, they said we are the police. There is a suspect in the house. Open the door. We then said there is no suspect in the house.

Please come during the day. After a while, they broke the lock of the collapsible gate and the door of the house of the pucca building and entered inside. He also said, 4/5 robbers entered the house. All had black masks on their faces. Only their eyes were visible. They had chisels, rods, knives and joint pipes in their hands. Upon entering the house, they stabbed me in my left hand and tied me up with old clothes and left me in the front room. They went into the inner room and held the family members hostage at gunpoint, broke three steel cupboards and two wooden cupboards and looted 12 tons of gold, 120,000 taka in cash and an Android mobile set belonging to my mother-in-law.

Saudi expatriate Md. Kamal Hossain said, "We expatriates earn money abroad by working hard and sending it home. We send gold ornaments for our families. We increase the country's remittances. But our families do not have security. Almost every day we receive news of theft and robbery at the houses of some expatriate.

We are drawing the attention of the administration to take effective initiatives with the help of political leaders to stop theft and robbery as soon as possible." Ashraful Islam, Second Officer of Lalmai Police Station, said, "In the last 4 months, one robbery attempt and two robbery cases have been filed at the police station. So far, 8 suspects have been arrested in connection with the robbery at the house of an expatriate in Jagatpur.

The police have arrested 5 people during the attempted robbery on the road." A suspect has been arrested in the robbery of an expatriate's house in Dattapur. And a case has not yet been registered in the robbery of an expatriate's house in Alokdia.

OC of Lalmai Police Station Md. Shah Alam said, "It is true that thefts and robberies have increased slightly compared to before. Robbers are targeting expatriates and the wealthy.