Police have recovered all eight bags that went missing from a Bangladesh Cricket Board covered van carrying Rajshahi Division’s cricket luggage after the second round of the National Cricket League, and five people have been detained in an overnight operation.
Rajshahi District Police’s Detective Branch carried out the operation late on Wednesday night, October 14. Superintendent of Police Mamun Or Rashid said the five detainees were professional criminals from Puthia and Charghat upazilas, experienced at opening the doors of moving covered vans.
Their identities were not immediately disclosed. The police chief said a case would be filed and details released in a press release, while efforts continued to recover the one item still missing from the bags, a sum of cash.
Mozadaded Zamani Sumon, member secretary of the Rajshahi Divisional Sports Association, visited the Detective Branch office on Thursday morning and saw the detainees.
Some were wearing clothes taken from the cricketers’ bags, while others had used expensive perfume found among the belongings.
Everything was recovered except Tk300,000 in cash from one cricketer’s bag, he said. Police told the association that efforts to trace the money were continuing, and the luggage is being returned to the owners once legal procedures are complete.
The trouble began after Rajshahi’s game against Khulna Division in Mirpur. The players flew home on Wednesday morning, while a BCB covered van carrying 54 pieces of luggage had set off by road overnight. At the Rajshahi hotel around 6am, eight bags were missing.
Driver Sajib Hossain told police he found the rear door locked at Hatikrumul in Sirajganj, then stopped in Natore for food. Around 5.30am another driver warned him the door was open, and at a fuel station near Puthia he found it open, with the lock reportedly broken.
Cricketer SM Meherab Hasan filed a general diary at Rajpara Police Station. Rajshahi, Natore and Rajshahi Metropolitan Police worked jointly, with Officer-in-Charge Abul Kalam Azad saying the theft could have happened in either district.
The missing bags held passports, iPhones, US dollars and cash. Meherab’s bag alone contained his passport, an iPhone 15 Pro Max, 300 US dollars, Tk300,000, perfume and clothes, while Abdul Kader lost a massage belt worth Tk60,000 and two pairs of shoes.
Mohor Sheikh Antor lost a JBL speaker, and Mohammad Walid’s bag held clothes. Four shared team bags also carried essential gear, including pads, gloves and helmets, leaving the squad worried about preparation for their next fixture.
Team manager Touhid Tarek called the episode embarrassing and distressing, and praised the police for moving quickly after the complaint. Rajshahi face Chattogram Division at the Rajshahi Divisional Stadium from October 18, with the recovered kit now due back before then.