The Rapid Action Battalion on early Saturday rescued an eight-month-old baby girl named Zaifa, abducted by robbers after looting money and gold ornaments from a house at Azimpur Medical Staff Quarters in the capital.
A team of the RAB recused the baby from Mohammadpur area in the city and arrested one Fatema Akhtar Shapla as suspect in this connection. Robbers swooped into the house located in Medical Staff Quarters of Azimpur area and looted valuables including cash money from the house on Friday.
Farzana, an employee of the Ministry of Home Affairs, lives in the flat with her husband and child.
Shapla moved into the flat of Farzana Akhter as a sublet tenant on Thursday. On Friday morning, two men, posing as the woman’s brothers, arrived and looted valuables including Tk 1.5 lakh in cash and some gold ornaments from the house after keeping Farzana hostage.
The closed-circuit television footages shows that three males were entering the house and the woman was coming out from the house along with them.
Briefing reporters, Lt Col Munim Ferdous, director of the Rapid Action Battalion's (RAB) Legal and Media Wing, said that Zaifa was kidnapped from Azimpur by the robbers as they wanted to push the family to pay them more money as ransom.
“Fatema Akhtar Shapla, the primary kidnapper, was arrested late last night during the drive to rescue Zaifa. Shapla admitted that the kidnapping was planned to extract a hefty ransom,” he told reporters at a briefing at its Media Centre at Karwan Bazar.
“Shapla, along with three accomplices — Sumon, Raihan, and Hasan — was involved in the robbery and kidnapping. They planned to demand a large ransom in exchange for the child. However, widespread attention from the media and social platforms forced them to go into hiding,” said Munim.
The child’s mother, Farzana Akhtar, works as a stenographer at the Ministry of Home Affairs, while the father is a lab assistant at Anwer Khan Modern Medical College Hospital.
Shapla had targeted Farzana about two weeks prior, establishing a rapport with her during their shared commutes to work, according to RAB.
On 14 November, Shapla moved into Farzana's house as a subtenant and tricked Farzana into consuming sedatives that night.
The following morning, her three accomplices entered the house, looting Tk1.7 lakh in cash and approximately seven bhori of gold ornaments.
The four then abducted Zaifa and fled to the Nabinagar Housing area in Mohammadpur.
Responding to a question, Munim said RAB is keeping the child’s father, Abu Zafar, under surveillance.
He explained marital issues between the parents led them to live separately.
“While the father frequently visited the Azimpur residence during the day, he stayed elsewhere at night. RAB is investigating whether he had any involvement in the incident,” he added.
According to RAB, Shapla, who hails from Bogura, studied at Lalmatia Women's College until 2014 but she did not complete her education. She lives with her mother and sister in Nabinagar Housing.
