By Zafar Abbas New Delhi, March 7 : Gangs of criminals consisting of Bangladeshi nationals and based in the national capital are rapidly spreading their tentacles. In the past few years, the gangs have gone from simple burglaries to more daring crimes like ATM theft, robberies and dacoities. This syndicate of Bangladeshi gangs has now emerged as a new challenge for Delhi Police which has roped in its specialized units like Special Cell and Crime Branch to tackle the menace. After committing the crime, the gang members sometimes flee to Bangladesh and return to India later when they believe "the dust has settled". The Crime Branch of Delhi Police has arrested three Bangladeshi nationals who were not just found involved in 18 cases of burglary in Delhi, Faridabad, Noida and Gurugram but were also wanted by the Uttar Pradesh Police in a case of dacoity in Kavi Nagar, Ghaziabad. The members of this gang held a family hostage at gunpoint when they resisted the burglary attempt by the five members of the gang in the intervening night of February 27 and 28. They held the man, his wife and their two sons at gunpoint and looted all the valuables. They also threatened to kill the family if they resisted. After committing the crime they fled in a car brought by one of their associates. Several incidents of burglary were reported in Delhi & NCR employing the same modus operandi. All the incidents provided "little clues". "After analyzing the modus operandi, time and place of incident and other clues, it was concluded that the Bangladeshi criminals have committed those crimes. Through the network of informers and technical and manual surveillance, it came to light that a criminal gang led by one Mohd. Khairul (Bangladesh National) is active in India and they are previously involved in many heinous crimes across the country," said Shibesh Singh, Additional CP, Crime. On specific information, three Bangladeshi criminals were arrested from Lado Sarai in Delhi on Friday. Mohd. Khairul is the gang leader and has been committing crimes since 1997. Khairul and Montu Mulla illegally entered India through Satkhira Border, West Bengal, in October 2020. Another accused Sadiq Seikh also illegally entered India about one and a half years ago and was residing in Kolkata with his family. In 2012, the gang leader Mohd. Khairul met one of his associates, Rajeev Srivastava, an Indian incarcerated in Tihar Jail who usually provided them assistance in getting a rented house and car for committing the crime. "These gangs targeted the houses located in posh colonies, and mostly entered the houses in the late night through the window after cutting the grills of the window. If any of the house members awoke, they used to overpower all the members of the house at gunpoint and looted all the valuables. If any member would have resisted, they did not hesitate to kill," said Bhisham Singh, DCP Crime. In August 2019, Delhi Police arrested two members of a Bangladeshi gang, who were involved in more than 100 cases of dacoity across India. They had also been declared proclaimed offenders by a Delhi court. According to the police, they had committed dacoities, burglaries, robberies in several parts of the country. After committing the crime, they used to flee to Bangladesh and return after some time. The gang members mostly reside in and around railway stations or in the forested areas of the cities. In a midnight encounter in October last year, the Delhi Police Special Cell arrested a gang of Bangladeshi criminals involved in looting four ATMs, and cash across the country. While the encounter took place in East Delhi resulting in one arrest, two others were arrested from the Indira Gandhi International Airport. The Delhi police is also taking measures to check the movement of Bangladeshi criminals across the border after committing crimes within the country. (Zafar Abbas can be reached at zafar.a@ians.in) /IANS