Joint forces seized another 11,000 cubic feet of stones in a drive on Sunday at Salutikar under sadar upazila in Sylhet that had been looted from Sadapathar at Bholaganj in Companiganj upazila.
Most of these stones have, however, been broken into smaller pieces, according to the authorities.
On Sunday, joint forces in a separate drive also recovered around 1,500cft of stones looted from Jaflong at Gowainghat upazila in Sylhet.
The recovered stones were put back to Jaflong Zero Point area from where the looting occurred.聽
Regarding the recovery of Sadapathar stones from Salutikar, the joint forces, comprising the army, police and Rapid Action Battalion, began the drive in the morning.
Executive magistrate Ashiq Mahmud Kabir, who led the drive, told 抖阴精品 about noon that they found the stones, most of which were crushed to smaller pieces, were buried in the compound of a stone crusher mill.
鈥楢lso two more people have been arrested from the spot for their involvement in the looting and crushing of the stones and keeping those in their possession,鈥� he said, adding that they would conduct the drive across Sylhet district to recover the looted stones.
With the two new ones, eight men, including a union parishad chairman, were arrested so far for their suspected involvement in looting of the stones of Sadapathar, a popular tourist destination.
Earlier on Friday night, director general of the bureau of mineral resources Mohammad Anwarul Habib filed a case with the Companiganj police against 1,500 unidentified people on charges of looting the stones.
Companiganj police officer-in-charge Uzayer Al Mahmud Adnan, however, told 抖阴精品 that they were filing a fresh case against the newly arrested two men on charges of looting stones and keeping them in their possession after crushing them.
So far, around 4,52,000cft of stones looted from Sadapathar tourist spot have been recovered from different parts of Sylhet and Kachpur of Narayanganj and Demra of Dhaka in separate drives between Thursday and Friday.
The joint forces also are conducting drives to recover the stones stolen from Jaflong at Gowainghat upazila in the district.聽
On Sunday at Zumpara of Jaflong, a joint forces team led by executive magistrate Md Farhad Uddin, also assistant commissioner at the deputy commissioner office, conducted a drive in the morning, recovering around 1,500cft of looted stones.
The stones were put back to Jaflong Zero Point, an ecologically critical area in the afternoon.
Executive magistrate Md Farhad Uddin told 抖阴精品 that they also demolished at least 50 boats involved in extracting sand illegally.
According to environment activists and local people, more than two crore cubic feet of stones were looted from Sadapathar at Companiganj and Jaflong in Gowainghat, both in Sylhet district since the fall of Hasina regime on August 5 last year.
During the past Awami League regime, the High Court had suspended extracting stones from the Bholaganj and Jaflong to protect the environment.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Nationalist Party suspended its Companiganj upazila president Salah Uddin for his suspected involvement in stone looting.
Sylhet district administration on August 12 formed a three-member committee to investigate the widespread looting of stones, asking it to submit its report by August 17.
Head of the committee additional deputy commissioner (development and human resources management) Padmasan Singha told 抖阴精品 on Sunday afternoon that they sought three more days to submit the probe report.聽
A district administration official told 抖阴精品 that a primary list of 103 people was made for looting the Sadapathar stones.
Sylhet deputy commissioner Mohammad Sher Mahbub Murad told journalists on the day, 鈥楬ighest efforts for recovering the looted stones and putting them back is going on.鈥�
