Additional Superintendent of Police (Raiganj Circle) Saiful Islam Khan confirmed the arrests on Thursday afternoon. The suspects were apprehended during overnight raids conducted in the Shajahanpur and Sadar upazilas of neighbouring Bogura district. The arrested individuals have been identified as lorry driver Mohidul Islam, 26, his associate Sakib Hossain, 20, both from Shajahanpur, and Golam Mostafa, 46, a resident of Bogura Sadar. All three suspects were produced before a court on Thursday afternoon.

The incident occurred in the early hours of 7 October, according to the official police complaint lodged at Raiganj Police Station by Mohammad Shafiullah, a resident of Narayanganj Sadar Upazila. At approximately 3:00 am, a lorry loaded with 400 gas cylinders belonging to various commercial brands departed from Talukdar Filling Station in Chaknuri village, heading towards Dhaka.

As the vehicle reached the Rouha Bridge area along the highway, a gang of 15 to 16 unidentified men intercepted the lorry. Armed with sharp knives, the robbers threatened to kill the driver, Asif, and his assistant. Two members of the gang forcibly boarded the cab and took control of the vehicle, driving it to an isolated stretch of road near a graveyard close to the Sholamile Fire Service station.

By 4:00 am, the robbers had brought two mini-trucks to the secluded location and transferred all 400 gas cylinders from the lorry. Before fleeing the scene, the gang stripped the driver and his assistant of three mobile phones and 86,000 taka in cash.

Police revealed that the 48 recovered cylinders formed part of the stolen consignment. Investigations and intelligence-led operations remain ongoing to track down the remaining members of the robbery syndicate and retrieve the rest of the stolen gas cylinders.