Police have detained three men for being involved in stealing and selling of high-end watches in Dhaka, of renowned brands like Patek Philippe, Richard Mille, and BMW, worth around Tk1.25 crore.
The trio - Md Mizan, 20, Ujjal Miah, 26, and Tajul Islam Liton, 28 - were arrested on Tuesday evening, Sub-Inspector Md Masum Billah Rony told Dhaka Tribune on Wednesday.
Police said the thieves did not know the true value of the watches and sold one of them for Tk2,000 only.
Of the three, Mizan stole the watches on June 8, from a flat on the second floor of House 32 at Baridhara Park Road in Gulshan. The flat is the residence Mamun Ahmed, a businessman who collects expensive watches, the sub-inspector said.
Mizan also stole Mamun's iPhone.
One June 9 morning, when Mamun realized his phone and five watches were missing, he informed Gulshan police.
SI Masum, the investigating officer of the case, said after receiving the information, they collected the CCTV footage around the house. One of the camera footages showed a man walking around the house at night.
Police traced the man from the footage to Uttarkhan area, where they conducted a raid and arrested Mizan on early Tuesday. Mizan admitted that he had stolen the watches from the house, and police recovered two watches from him, Masum added.
During primary interrogation, Mizan told police that he had sold the BMW watch for Tk2,000 and the iPhone for Tk1,500 to a mobile mechanic named Ujjal. Based on information, police conducted another raid in Vatara area and arrested Ujjal and recovered the watch and mobile.
Mizan also told them that two other watches were also sold to a gold jeweller named Liton for Tk103,000.
Police then raided Liton’s shop and arrested him as well. Liton had melted the gold in the watches after buying them. Police also recovered the money.
SI Masum said Mizan is a professional thief. A grill cutting machine was also recovered from him, which he used to get inside the flat.
