Dona Paula armed robbery, Mapusa dacoity solved
Panaji: The Anti-Extortion and Kidnapping Cell (AEKC) of the Delhi Police Crime Branch dismantled a lethal Bangladeshi dacoit gang following a gun battle in Sarai Kale Khan, South East Delhi, during the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday.
The operation led to the arrest of six Bangladeshi nationals: Suman Hauldhar alias Pannu, Saifful Islam, Sohail Sheikh, Md. Nasir, Noor Islam alias Nadim Khan and Zakir. All six men are from the Bagerhat district of Bangladesh and were wanted for a series of violent crimes, including an armed robbery in Dona Paula in April 2025 and another in Ganeshpuri, Mapusa, in October 2025.
The gang is allegedly involved in 14 cases across Delhi, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Goa. For nearly eight years, the group utilised a ‘strike and vanish’ tactic, crossing into India to commit violent robberies before escaping back to Bangladesh to evade authorities.
Police said that the gang would lie low for several months before returning to select new targets in different states.
Their arrest ends a multi-state reign of terror and resolves major unsolved cases of robbery, dacoity and murder.
The capture followed a high-risk interception based on pinpoint intelligence. Officers learnt that the gang, armed with deadly weapons, planned to gather in a secluded forest area near the Sarai Kale Khan cremation ground to plot a dacoity in South Delhi.
Upon being cornered, the criminals ignored surrender warnings and opened fire on the police. Exhibiting tactical restraint and bravery, the team engaged in a fierce exchange, firing three disciplined rounds to counter the gang’s three shots. The officers successfully overpowered the six dacoits and recovered four pistols, live ammunition and house-breaking tools.
Investigators detailed a sophisticated modus operandi in which the gang illegally entered India through clandestine networks. Operating with masked faces and an array of weapons, they specialised in ‘Hit-Run-Hide’ dacoities, often brutally torturing or murdering residents who resisted.
They primarily targeted isolated, affluent elderly citizens for gold and cash, using a secret network of relatives across India to scout high-value homes. This local network also provided arms and infrastructure. To remain invisible to police tracking, the gang strictly avoided mobile phones and paid human smugglers large fees to facilitate their retreat across the border.
It may be noted that in 2025, on the intervening night of April 19 and April 20, an armed robbery was reported in Dona Paula wherein a security guard of a bungalow was assaulted and an elderly couple from a well-known business family was tied to a bed following which the robbers fled with gold ornaments and cash.
In the Mapusa case, a gang of six armed and masked robbers had broken into a bungalow of a prominent doctor at Ganeshpuri in the early hours of October 7, 2025. The robbers tied up the family members, including the elderly mother of the doctor, and decamped with cash and gold jewellery worth around Rs 35 lakh.
