Busted: Bangladeshi gang that struck in India, slipped across border

NEW DELHI: Like a game of shadows, this gang of Bangladeshi dacoits perfected a “strike and vanish” rhythm, slipping across borders to unleash terror before retreating to Dhaka. After leaving a trail of blood and stolen gold across Goa and Karnataka, their luck finally ran out in Delhi.

While the gang shunned technology to remain invisible, they couldn’t outrun traditional human intelligence network and were cornered in south Delhi early on Wednesday after a brief exchange of fire. DCP Sanjeev Yadav said six men were arrested. Police claimed to have solved 14 major cases of robbery, dacoity and murder with the arrests.

The operation was triggered by intelligence developed by sub-inspector Ashok Kumar, indicating that the armed gang was planning a strike in south Delhi. A team laid a trap in a secluded forest area. Upon being cornered, the gang members ignored surrender warnings and opened fire on the officers.

The accused have been identified as Suman Hauldhar, Saifful Islam, Sohail Sheikh, Mohammad Nasir, Noor Islam and Zakir, who belong to Bagerhat district of Bangladesh. Police recovered four country-made pistols, live ammunition and specialised house-breaking tools from them. Two other members, Shakayat and Illiyas, managed to escape under the cover of darkness.

The capture shattered a sophisticated ‘hit-run-hide’ strategy. The gang specialised in infiltrating the Indian border through clandestine networks, targeting affluent senior citizens for gold and cash and employing extreme brutality.

The modus operandi involved binding and torturing the targets, sometimes resulting in murder at the slightest hint of resistance. After committing a wave of violent dacoities, they would retreat across the border to evade Indian law, only to resurface months later in a different state.

The gang was wanted for two major dacoities in Goa in 2025 involving the looting of Rs 35 lakh and one kg gold. Their footprint extended across Delhi, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Kerala, including a 2019 dacoity-cum-murder in Karnataka’s Hubli and a 2017 murder in Bengaluru. Nasir had been a fugitive since a 2021 encounter in Lucknow.Get real-time updates and result insights on the CBSE 12 Result 2026.