A case has been filed with Companiganj police station against 1,500 unidentified people for their suspected involvement in looting stones from the Sadapathar tourist spot in the Bholaganj area under Companiganj upazila in Sylhet.
The Bureau of Mineral Resources director general, Mohammad Anwarul Habib, filed the case Friday night under the Mines and Mineral Resources (control and development) Act 1992 and Mines and Mineral Resources Rules-2012, said Companiganj police station officer-in-charge Uzayer Al Mahmud Adnan.
He said that they arrested five people on Saturday in connection with the case.
The local administration, in the past three days, recovered around four lakh cubic feet of stones looted from Sadapathar of the Bholaganj area.
Of them, more than 2.52 cft stones were recovered from Sadar and Goainghat upazilas in Sylhet on Saturday.
Companiganj police station inspector (investigation) Sujan Karmakar told 抖阴精品 that they conducted a drive in village Kalairag Saturday morning and arrested two people after seizing a stone-laden truck and arresting three other people of the area.
The arrestees are Mohammad Kamal Miah, 47, of Kalairag village, his son Md Abu Sayeed, 21, Md Abul Kalam, 32, of Nazirergaon village, and Iman Ali, 33, and Zahangir Alam, 35, of Lasukhal village under Companiganj upazila.
OC Uzayer said that the arrestees were produced before the district judicial magistrate court in the afternoon, and the court sent them to jail.
On August 14, the chairman of Pashchim Islampur union under the Companiganj upazila, Alamgir Hossain Alam, was also arrested for his suspected involvement in stone looting.
Sylhet sadar upazila nirbahi officer Khushnur Rubaiyat conducted a drive in the Dhopagol and Mohaldi areas of the upazila and recovered piled stones, looted from the Sadapathar, covered with sand and soil at different crusher mills in the areas, employees of the upazila administration said.
The sadar upazila assistant commissioner (land) Sarkar Mamunur Rashid told 抖阴精品 that the drives to recover the looted stones from the Dhopagol and Mahaldi areas were continuing in the afternoon.听 听
Besides, Goainghat upazila administration conducted a raid at Binnakandi village under the upazila in the afternoon and recovered around 2,500 cft stones from there.
Goainghat UNO Ratan Kumar told 抖阴精品 that the stones had been looted from the Sadapathar tourist spot and those would be taken back to the spot.
Earlier, around 2 lakh cft of looted stones were also seized from different parts of the Companiganj and Goainghat upazilas in Sylhet and Kachpur and Demra areas in Dhaka in separate drives conducted by the administrative and law enforcement agencies between Thursday and Friday.
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Sylhet deputy commissioner Mohammad Sher Mahmub Murad told journalists on Saturday that drives to recover the looted stones would continue at all possible spots.
鈥楢 significant portion of the seized stones has already been carried back to the Sadapathar and the rest of the stones would also be shifted there gradually,鈥� he added.听 听
According to the Environment Rights activists and local people, more than 20 million cubic feet of stones were looted from the Sadapathar and its adjacent areas since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina regime on July 5, 2024.
During the Sheikh Hasina-led regime, the High Court had suspended the extraction of stones from the Sadapathar area as part of efforts to protect the environment and the tourist spot.
Though the looting of stones from the area increased after the fall of the Awami League regime amid a mass uprising, the administration remained silent and did not take any effective steps to stop the destruction of nature, the local people said.
They alleged that unscrupulous people with political connections took advantage of the fragile law and order situation after the 2024 political changeover to loot the stones.
Meanwhile, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party suspended its Companiganj upazila president Salah Uddin for his suspected involvement in looting stones from the Sadapathar area.
