The local administration on Friday started putting the stones, recovered from the hands of a racket, back to Sadapathar, a popular tourist destination at Bholaganj in Companiganj upazila of Sylhet.
About noon on the day, a team of joint forces led by executive magistrate Mahbub Ashiq Kabir launched a drive to recover the looted stones.
The task of putting the stones back to the place from where they were stolen at Sadapathar also began right afterwards.
The executive magistrate told journalists that they had information that looted stones were buried in soil at more than a hundred spots, including the compounds of crusher mills, in the upazila.
鈥楾he looters are trying to hide the stones not only in the crusher mills, but also at different houses and even at the back of their kitchens,鈥� he added.
Local administration officials said that around 1,50,000 cubic-feet of stones were recovered from different places at Companiganj and elsewhere in Sylhet district till Friday noon.
Sylhet sadar upazila nirbahi officer Khoshnur Rubaiyat also told 抖阴精品 that their drive to recover the looted stones would continue.
Companiganj upazila nirbahi officer Azizunnahar also said that their drive would go on until the full recovery of the looted stones.
Besides, the Rapid Action Battalion reportedly seized 40,000cft of looted stones from Kanchpur in Narayanganj and Demra in Dhaka city on Thursday night.
A RAB-11 team, led by local administration and environment department officials, conducted a drive at Shukursi Ghat in Sarulia area under the Demra police on Thrusday night, seizing 40,000 cubic feet of looted stones from seven organisations, Lieutenant Colonel HM Sajjad Hossain, RAB-11 commanding officer, told journalists.
Sajjad Hossain said that one of the seven firms, Tahmit Stonecrusher Mill, belonged to Jamaat-e-Islami leader Md Rahmat.
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Sylhet deputy commissioner Mohammad Sher Mahbub Murad told 抖阴精品 that the recovered stones would be put back to their original location with the help of the joint forces.
According to the environmental rights activists and local people, more than 20 million cubic-feet stones and 60 million-cft sand were looted from Sadapathar and its adjoining areas since the fall of Hasina regime on August 5 last year.
During the Hasina-led regime, the High Court had suspended stone extraction from Sadapathar to protect environment and preserve the nature鈥檚 beauty spot.
Local residents alleged that after the political changeover in August last year, looting of the stones became rampant at Sadapathar with the administration keeping almost mum.
Unscrupulous people having with political connections took advantage of fragile law and order situation after the changeover to extract stones from the area, a place known for its tourist attraction.听
Meanwhile, Bnagladesh Nationalist Party suspended its Companiganj upazila president Salah Uddin for his suspected involvement in looting of Sadapathar stones.
Besides, another local BNP leader, Alamgir Alam, also chairman of Pashchim Islampur union in Companiganj, was arrested on Thursday on the same charges.
