Asif Nazrul’s mobile phone snatched from moving car in Dhaka

A snatcher grabbed the mobile phone of former interim government Law Adviser Professor Asif Nazrul through the open window of his moving car in Dhaka on Wednesday evening.

The incident took place around 6:30pm in the Shukrabad area, near Dhanmondi.

Asif Nazrul confirmed the incident in a cautionary post on his verified Facebook account shortly afterwards.

“My car window was open. A young man snatched my mobile phone in a split second and fled. It happened around 6:30 tonight,” he wrote.

Warning his friends and acquaintances, he added that efforts were under way to recover the stolen phone. He urged them to ignore any messages seeking money, issuing threats or containing suspicious content if they came from his phone number or through any other means.

Describing the incident in detail, Asif Nazrul said he was travelling from Dhanmondi 27 towards New Market via Mirpur Road around 6:30pm. His car was moving slowly because of heavy traffic, and he had lowered the window because he was feeling hot.

He was reading text messages on his phone when the car reached the area near the former Daffodil University campus in Shukrabad. A young man wearing a blue T-shirt suddenly reached through the open window, snatched the phone from his hand and ran away.

Asif Nazrul said he immediately got out of the car and tried to chase the snatcher, but the young man quickly disappeared into the crowd.

Acknowledging that his own lack of caution had contributed to the incident, he said he had informed senior police officials shortly after it happened.

Several law enforcement teams are working to track down and recover the phone and arrest the snatcher, he said, expressing hope that the device would be recovered soon.