Incidence of break-in and robbery

In two separate incidents on Monday and Tuesday, albeit falling in a pattern, a private firm's computer accessories were vandalised with Tk eight lakh from its kitty spirited away while 13 bookshops were robbed of Tk 18 lakh and a number of books.

The victims and people of the locality would point their fingers at some gangs operating in the specific localities to have been responsible for such dare-devil acts. Yet every time such an incident takes place the law-enforcing people seem to be groping for the culprits. We simply fail to understand as to why it has to be this way. Each time a robbery or murder takes place in some shopping complex the police action seems to end in such words of wisdom like, "this is apparently the result of some personal rivalry or business conflicts that existed between the victims and the perpetrators or vested interests."

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We are at our wit's end as to how as many as 16 lethally armed youths could carry out such violence at city's Reza market yesterday and that too in broad day light. In this case too people of the locality have come up with the name of a city's top ranking goon suspected of having had a hand in the incident. Predictably, each time something like this happens the police tend to arrest some members of the hired security personnel on duty. Thereafter not much is heard of except for the familiar pattern of intimidation and threats by some "known and unknown callers over telephone" pronounced to the victims.

It must be pointed out that the relatively smaller business houses and traders are an integral part of our economy. We must allow them to carry on with their business in an environment free from fear and intimidation.