Police today arrested five suspected robbers after a teacher's house was looted in Panchagarh's Tetulia upazila in the early hours.

The arrestees are Anwar Hossain, 41, of Shathibari village, Shariful Islam, 35, of Makimpur village, Md Hasanur, 40, of Azampur Fakirpara village, Md Aynal, 38, of Shahpur village in Mithapukur upazila of Rangpur, and Touhidul Islam, 40, of Mirzapur village in Dinajpur's Nawabganj upazila.

Anaet Kabir, officer-in-charge of Tetulia Police Station, said around 9:00am, police with the help of locals arrested the five suspected robbers and seized a pick-up van from Bhajanpur area of the same upazila.

Tk 12,500 in cash and 2 tolas (bhori) of gold ornaments were recovered from the robbers, he added.

The schoolteacher, Belayet Hossain, said a gang of some 8-10 robbers got inside his house in Aziznagar village of the upazila after breaking open the door around 1:00am.

The robbers then tied Belayet and his wife with rope and confined them to a room and looted cash and gold ornaments at gunpoint, he said.

Their daughter, who was staying in a separate room, alerted their neighbours and relatives over phone.

When the neighbours came towards the house, the robbers quickly fled the scene on a pick-up van.

As the news of robbery spread in the area, villagers set up barricades and police set up checkpoints on different roads of the village leading to their arrest.

Police are trying to arrest the other members of the gang, said OC Anaet.

A robbery case has been filed in this connection, he added.