Police have recovered a 70-kg brass bell that was stolen from St. Paul’s School and Church in the capital’s Mohammadpur area. The church’s CCTV camera recording was mysteriously turned off just before the theft, and later, in the face of a police raid, the thief left the bell wrapped in white polythene next to a dustbin on Zakir Hossain Road and fled. The incident took place at St. Paul’s School and Church, located in front of the WASA building at 92 Asad Avenue in Mohammadpur. Police said that sometime after 12:03 am on October 1, a thief or thieves took the bell, which was kept in an empty space on the second floor of the church. The church’s CCTV camera recording had been turned off before that time.
Mohammadpur Police Station reached the spot around 4:30 am after receiving information about the incident. Later, multiple police forces launched a drive to arrest those involved. Mohammadpur Police Station Officer-in-Charge Md. Abdul Halim said the brass bell weighing about 70 kg, which was kept in the empty space on the second floor of St. Paul’s Church, was stolen. Immediately after receiving the information, police went to the spot and started an investigation, and multiple teams conducted raids to recover the stolen goods and arrest those involved. He said the thieves fled after leaving the bell behind amid police activity. Later, at 2:50 am on October 2, the bell was recovered intact, wrapped in white polythene, from next to a dustbin on Zakir Hossain Road in Mohammadpur.
Stating that the issue of the CCTV recording being turned off before the theft is gaining importance in the investigation, OC Abdul Halim said the recording option of the church’s CCTV camera was turned off from 12:03 am. Why and how it was turned off is being investigated. He further said various CCTV footage from the surroundings is being collected and analysed to identify the thief or thieves, and information is also being collected through trusted sources. The operation to identify and arrest those involved is ongoing. The recovered brass bell is currently in the custody of Mohammadpur Police Station, and police said legal proceedings are also underway in the incident.
