The men had boarded the bus on the Jessore-Satkhira road posing as passengers on Saturday night.

Bagachrha police's Sub-Inspector Syed Bayazid Hossain said most of the passengers were cattle traders.

Police said they had raided the bus acting on a tipoff that the traders were about to be robbed.

Several suspected members of the 'racket' who were following the bus on motorcycles fled, SI Hossain said.

Police recovered 12 sticks and clothes used for blindfolding from the bus.

The bus operated in Dhaka's Mirpur and did not have permission to run on Dhaka-Satkhira or Jessore routes.

The arrested reportedly confessed of previous robberies during initial interrogation.

Those arrested were identified as Farhad Hossain, 25, Robi Sheikh, 24, Subhash Lal, 44, Billal Hossain, 25, Masud Molla, 28, Abdul Jalil, 32, Bashir Ahmed, 35, Shamim Hossain, 30, Sujan Sardar, 38, Robiul Islam, 30 and Abul kashem, 35.

They hail from Jessore, Dhaka, faridpur, Madaripur, Kushtia, Jhenaidah, Bhola and Barisal.

Police claimed the gang had robbed another bus in Jessore's Barobazar on Jan 13.

Investigation into the robbery had led to the Saturday's arrests, SI Hossain added.