Key public places put under security watch:Daily Sun

  With holy Eid ul-Fitr festival drawing nearer, detectives both in uniform and plain-clothes have mounted a close watch outside marketplaces, bus and launch terminals and railway station in the capital to maintain law and order. Alongside uniformed police and RAB, female detectives wearing veils are now in action at different crowded places like shopping malls to catch criminals. Sources said sev
eral teams of plain-clothes police under the guise of customers have also been moving round the shopping malls. As usual, women and kids rush to various marketplaces to buy new dress. Besides, Eid celebrants throng different bus, launch and railway stations to go to their ancestral homes during the festival. Taking advantage of such situation, gangs of organised criminals swoop on innocent people and snatch their valuables. More than 100 shopping malls and other key-point installations have been brought under close surveillance by detectives, a senior police official said. Detectives, both male and female, posing as clients lie in wait in and around major malls and markets to catch muggers, toll collectors and Agyan [dope] party men, he mentioned. In the wake of a rise in criminal activities like mugging, hijacking and toll collection, sources said, Dhaka Metropolitan Police deployed huge lawmen at different strategic points. For smooth observance of holy Ramadan and Eid festival, security has been tightened at important places to tackle any unwarranted situation, said DMP Deputy Commissioner (media) Masudur Rahman. Plain-clothes detectives are working hard in the capital and on its outskirts to thwart any form of crime like mugging and extortion, he observed. “A strong contingent of lawmen is now working hard in the capital to curb criminal activities like mugging, hijacking, toll collection and Agyan [dope] party and nagging traffic congestion,” a senior detective said. Ahead of the Ramadan fast, DMP Commissioner Benazir Ahmed told the media that they have taken an all-out step to save public lives and property. “Lawmen in large numbers have been stationed at strategically important points like shopping malls and transport depots to rid the capital of all kinds of criminal activities and terrible traffic jam,” the top DMP official added. As part of extra security, police and RAB personnel are seen searching motor vehicles, slow-moving rickshaws and passengers in places like Motijheel, Arambagh, Gulshan, Bailey Road, Malibagh, Mirpur and Khilgaon on Thursday.