Staff Correspondent:

A robbery took place on Saturday early a microbus carrying an expatriate from Jordan and her relatives on the Dhaka-Tangail highway in Tangail’s Mirzapur upazila.

The robbers looted cash, mobile phones, and other valuables, and shot one person during the incident, according to the police and victims.

Following the robbery, police seized the microbus which had been abandoned by the gang while being chased by the police.

Sumaiya Akter, a passenger of the microbus, said her sister-in-law, Beauty Akter, is an expatriate who arrived from Jordan at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka on Friday. They rented a microbus from the Tongi area. Beauty’s sister, father, and their children were also in the vehicle.

“Around 2:30am, when our microbus reached Postkamuri Charpara on the highway, a Hiace microbus came from behind and intercepted us. A gang of 7-8 robbers — armed with firearms, knives, machetes, walkie-talkies, and handcuffs — looted everything from us at gunpoint,” she said.

Sensing the crime, a police team patrolling the area chased the robbers, but the gang opened fire and managed to flee. Tuhin Miah, assistant to the wrecker driver of the highway police station, sustained a bullet injury to his hand during the incident.

Mirzapur Officer-in-Charge Mohammad Rasedul Islam said police rescued the expatriate and her relatives and brought them to the police station.

Injured Tuhin was admitted to Kumudini Hospital, he added.

Adibul Islam, additional superintendent of police (crime) in Tangail, said, “We have already begun working on the case and hope to arrest the robbers soon.”

Meanwhile, an oil-laden truck was hijacked on the same highway in Mirzapur early yesterday. On May 21, a passenger bus of Al Imran Paribahan was robbed and female passengers were harassed. A similar incident occurred on February 17, when a Unique Royals passenger bus was robbed and female passengers were assaulted in Mirzapur.

Passengers have expressed concerns over safety and rising insecurity after the recent string of highway robberies. Both transport workers and commuters have strongly demanded increased law enforcement surveillance on the highway.