The Rapid Action Battalion has arrested 26 people with alleged links to mugging and extortion in separate raids across Dhaka.
A gang of organised criminals has been extorting money from fruits and vegetables vendors, roadside shopkeepers and transporters and mugged pedestrians in Paltan and Wari, said RAB-3 officer Beena Rani Das. The RAB conducted the raids on Thursday.
Those who declined to pay the extortion were threatened with death, reports bdnews24.com.
The arrestees are Md Mosharef Hossain, 29, Md Masud Raihan, 28, Md Rokon, 29, Md Billal Hossain, 33, Md Akter Hossain, 35, Md Harun, 48, Md Saheb Ali, 49, Md Jewel, 43, Md Arif Chowdhury, 53, Md Al-Amin, 33, Md Sumon, 33, Md Rana, 26, Md Iman Ali, 40 and Md Iqbal, 45.
The law-enforcement agency recovered Tk 44,990 from the arrestees which they extorted from people, said Beena Das.
Another team of RAB arrested a group of muggers, including Md Sumon, 29, Md Abdur Rahman, 19, Md Saiful Mia, 23, Md Ripon Mia, 21, Md Amirul Islam, 55, Nityananda Adhikari, 50, Md Anwar Hossain, 48, Md Sohel, 30, Sharif, 22, Mobarak, 21, Md Al-Amin, 26 and Suruj Mia, 28.
The RAB also seized sharp weapons from the muggers.
The criminals confessed to their crime during the primary interrogation, saying they extorted Tk 100 to Tk 500 a day from people.
Evading the law enforcers, they used to threaten the makeshift shop owners and traders to harm them and extort money.
The muggers, on the other hand, threatened to attack pedestrians, rickshaw and auto-rickshaw passengers and mugged them.