He lied over and over again. The man who committed the robbery at Sonali Bank’s Kishoreganj branch even deceived Rab personnel by using a fake name.
He identified himself as Habib to the law enforcers, while his real name is Yusuf Munshi.
The man from Patuakhali also used another fake name — Sohel — to fool the owner of his rented house near the bank and his neighbours in Kishoreganj.
He also told lies about his brother, Idris Munshi, who was arrested along with him at a flat in the capital’s Shyampur area on Tuesday. Yusuf told Rab members that Idris is his former colleague.
“The culprit is known by the name of Yusuf in his village home,” Monirul Islam, officer-in-charge of Patuakhali Sadar Police Station, told The Daily Star.
Safia Begum, mother of the 37-year-old man, said her son’s family name is Yusuf Munshi.
She told our Patuakhali correspondent that Yusuf had kept her in the dark about his return from Dubai around three years back.
“I knew that he was still in Dubai. I was greatly surprised at the news of his involvement in the robbery,” said Safia, who lives at Gabua village in Patuakhali.
“Neighbours are now taunting us,” she said.
Yusuf failed to complete his primary education, as the eight-member family couldn’t afford the expenses.
Safia moved to Dhaka with her three sons — Yusuf, Idris and Ibrahim — in search of work after her husband Siraj Munshi died around 25 years ago.
Of the three, Ibrahim died from cardiac failure five years back.
Yusuf, not Habib
The village home of Yusuf alias Habib at Gabua in Patuakhali. Yusuf is the mastermind of the Sonali Bank heist in Kishoreganj. Photo: Star
Safia said it was Idris who bore all her expenses, while Yusuf gradually distanced himself from his mother.
Idris works as a senior rolling operator at a factory of Shaheen Cables Wire Drawing Ltd, a cable manufacturing company, at Shyampur, said a staff of the factory on condition of anonymity.
Their mother was also an employee of the factory, said Idris’ colleague.
“When they were young, their mother used to bring them to the factory,” said the employee, who has been working there for over two decades.
Idris had worked at the factory for about 10 years at a stretch till 2009. He then quit the job and worked for a couple of companies for around two years.
“He again joined Shaheen Cables three years ago,” said the factory staff.
Rab arrested the duo with Tk 16.19 crore from a flat of a six-storey building at Shyampur on Tuesday, two days after the robbery was unearthed at the Sonali Bank branch on Isa Khan Road in Kishoreganj.
The elite force handed over the two to Kishoreganj police yesterday afternoon.
The recovered money was deposited with a Sonali Bank branch in Dhaka yesterday, said AKM Fazlul Haque, assistant general manager of Kishoreganj Sonali Bank.
The rest of the looted Tk 16.40 crore was yet to be recovered.
Talking to The Daily Star, the wife of the building’s caretaker said Idris contacted her on January 25, and paid the house rent in advance.
Yusuf had used four SIM cards to make phone calls from different locations. But he didn’t change his mobile phone, which made it possible for the law enforcers to know his whereabouts.
“We traced him by his mobile phone after a robbery case was filed with the police station on Sunday night. We found that he made calls at times using the SIM cards from different parts of the capital,” said Abdul Malek, officer-in-charge of Kishoreganj Police Station.
Kishoreganj police on Tuesday arrested Abu Bakar, a member of lower subordinate staff at the bank branch, with whom Yusuf struck up a friendship to get details about the bank’s interior and the vault.
Malek, also investigation officer of the case, confirmed it last night.
