Police detained a total of 16 people, including a branch manager of Sonali Bank Limited (SBL) in Kishoregonj district town Monday, for interrogation in connection with the Sunday's looting of bank money by unknown burglars.
The arrestees include Kishoregonj branch manager AKM Humayun Kabir Bhuiyan, vault custodians Mohsinul Haque and Hasan Ahmed Moin and six policemen posted on guard at the branch for maintaining security there.
Unidentified miscreants took away Tk 164 million by digging a tunnel to the vault from a nearby building, only 20 yards away from the bank. The bank officials discovered the tunnel on Sunday afternoon when they entered the second cell of the bank's vault to take money for transactions.
Talking to the FE, Officer-in-Charge of Kishoregonj Model Police Station Abdul Malek, said the detainees have been taken to the police station following a case filed by Deputy General Manager (DGM) Sheikh Amanullah of SBL to get primary information on the incident.
"We're now interrogating them regarding the issue," Mr Malek, also investigation officer of the case, said adding that SM Mahfuzul Haque Nuruzzaman, deputy inspector general of police (Dhaka Range), went to visit the SBL branch at Isa Khan Road in Rathkhola area of the district town.
Simultaneously, members of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and Rapid Action Battalion rushed to the spot and collected evidences from there.
Seeking anonymity, a senior CID official said a 15-member probe team of the CID, led by its senior Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mohammad Shahjahan, has already started the investigation.
He said they have collected four caps, two masks and other materials used by the miscreants in the sensational bank robbery and have taken those to the CID lab for DNA test.
The CID official, however, refused to make any further comment on the incident for the sake of investigation.
Anwar Hossain Khan, superintendent of police, Kishoreganj, said the policemen stationed at the bank were suspended for negligence of duty on Sunday night. "They will also be quizzed in this connection," he added.
When contacted, General Manager of the SBL Hasan Iqbal said the SBL authority formed a three-member probe body, headed by himself, to find out the exact reason behind the looting. Other members of the team are SBL DGMs Abu Jafar and Sheikh Amanullah.
Terming the incident one of the most sensational burglaries in the country's banking history, he said they would prepare the investigation report after scrutinizing all the aspects.
