Dhaka: Habibur Rahman, an East West University student, along with his three friends got on a bus from Farmgate to go back home at Malibagh and he sat in a window seat for a smooth journey.

When the bus got stuck in traffic jam at Karwanbazar, he received a phone call from his girlfriend and got immersed in deep conversations only to fall victim to a snatcher who suddenly took away the phone set through the window. Stunned, he saw the snatcher running away. The incident took place on March 16.

On February 15, Jannatul Ferdous, a housewife along with her four-year-old daughter was going to Mohakhali from Bailey Road by a CNG-run auto-rickshaw.

‘My daughter was playing games on my tab. As we reached Nabisco crossing in Tejgaon area, a mugger from behind pounced on my baby and snatched the tab cutting backside hood of the vehicle. My baby and I got scared at the incident. Such incidents, I think, are frequently happening for lack of action by law enforcers,’ she said.

A senior journalist of United News of Bangladesh also fell victim to muggers at Amin Bazar intersection on February 23 last when he was returning to the capital from Savar in a picnic party bus of the Jatiya Press Club sitting in a window seat, reports the UNB.

Mohammad Shamsul Islam, a private university teacher who lost his expensive mobile to snatchers at Mirpur 1 near Muktijoddha market last month, wrote on his Facebook account that Mirpur now has become a safe haven for mobile phone snatchers.

These are only a few of the incidents of snatching the city dwellers experience every day as various gangs popularly known as 'Tana Party' are on the prowl due to law enforcers' inaction.

The mugging incidents have marked a sharp rise in the capital and its adjoining areas recently, creating a feeling of insecurity among the city dwellers, said victims.

Police said at least 50 'Tana Parties' are active in at least 135 spots around the city who commit 'pick-and-run' incidents.

They said the criminals choose their victims on slowly-moving vehicles after observing or following them for some time at different intersections or relatively less-crowded places. They swoop on their targets and snatch their valuables and flee away before the shocked victims can react.

They said the muggers usually snatch mobile phone sets, laptops, other electronic devices, handbags, and ornaments from women.

The snatchers sometimes become violent and take both lives and valuables of people as at least two people were killed and some others injured in recent months in the city during mugging.

On January 26, Helena Begum, a housewife, was run over by a car of snatchers as she fell under its wheels when muggers pulled her vanity bag in the city's Dhanmondi area. The same day, muggers also stabbed a youth in Hajaribagh area and took away Tk 20,000.

An SSC examinee was also stabbed by snatchers on January 31 in Jatrabari's Dhonia area.

A 'bKash' employee, Al-Amin, was stabbed to death by muggers in Uttara on February 1. Another 'bKash' employee was also stabbed on the same day in Demra.

Police have no statistics as how many numbers of 'pick-and-run' or mugging incidents occur in the city a day or month as most victims are reluctant to lodge complaints with police stations to avert possible hassles.

A police officer wishing anonymity said though a very few people inform police about the incident, most of them chose to register simple 'GD (General Diary)' instead of filing mugging cases.

Contacted, acting Additional Commissioner (Crime) of the DMP Krishna Pada Roy said most of the perpetrators of such incidents are drug addicts.

He said though they have intensified their vigilance and identified a number of such spots, they still could not combat the mugging and 'pick-and-run' incidents.

Krishna Pada said they are going to apply various strategies to arrest the stray youths involved in mugging.

Replying to a question, he said police sometimes can recover snatched mobile phones and other valuables, but he could not give any statistics in this regard.

In many incidents, the police officer said law-enforcers cannot track down costly mobile sets as those are usually smuggled out of the country or their IME numbers get tempered.

According to a police official at the Police Headquarters, Mazar Road crossing of Gabtoli, Ansar camp in Mirpur-1, Grameen Bank Bhaban area in Mirpur-2, Mirpur Indoor Stadium area, Purabi Post Office Lane in Mirpur-12, Shyamoli Cinema Hall, Dhanmondi-27, Shankar Bus Stand, Dhanmondi, Bangabandhu International Conference Centre area in Agargaon, Bijoy Sharani, Shezan Point at Farmgate, Saarc Fountain near Kawran Bazar and areas adjacent to Shahbagh crossing are among the most vulnerable spots of mugging.