S A Shofiee, Sylhet :
The Director General of the Mineral Resources Development Bureau, Mohammad Anwarul Habib, has filed a case against 1,500 people in connection with the stone looting and theft of stones from the Bholaganj stone quarry in Sylhet. The police have arrested five people so far after filing a case at the Companiganj Police Station in Sylhet on Friday (August 15).
Confirming the arrests, the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Companiganj Police Station, Uzayer Al Mahmud Adnan, said that one to 1,500 people have been shown as unknown accused in the case. Five suspects have been arrested so far.
The case statement said that news has been published in various national media outlets that some miscreants have illegally and unauthorizedly looted stones worth crores of taka from the gazetted stone quarry since August 5 last year. The identities of those involved in the incident could not be identified.
Earlier on Thursday, police arrested Alamgir Alam, chairman of Companiganj East Islampur Union. Later, he was arrested in a case filed by Chhatak Naval Police.
After August 5 last year, stones worth hundreds of crores of taka were looted from two tourist centers in Sylhet, Sadapathar in Companiganj and Jaflong in Gowainghat. The administration became active after the unprecedented looting of stones by digging up the soil of white stones in the last 15 days.
In this incident of looting, which has been discussed across the country, the High Court ordered that the stones be recovered and replaced in the right place and the list of looters be submitted to the court.
As of writing this report, 200,000 cubic feet of looted stones in Sylhet have been recovered from houses.
On Saturday (August 16), the task force conducted a raid on a stone crusher mill and various houses in the Dhopagul area and recovered about 230,000 cubic feet of stones.
These stones were recovered during raids on various crusher mills and towns in the Dhopagul area in the afternoon.
The recovered stones were reportedly looted recently from the Sadapathar tourist spot and surrounding areas.
The operation was led by Sylhet Sadar Upazila Executive Officer Khoshnur Rubaiyat.
The Upazila Executive Officer said that the task force conducted the operation in the Dhopagul area based on secret information.
He said that the stones were found covered with sand near the houses in Mahaldhik village of Dhopagul and at the crusher in the Dhopagul area.
He also said that the stones will be scattered again in the Sadapathar area. He also said that the operation to stop the looting of stones will continue.
Along with the police and army, officials from the Department of Environment were also present in the operation.
So far, the joint forces have launched eighty operations across the country, including Sylhet. In the last three days, a total of 1 lakh 9 thousand cubic feet of stones have been recovered from Sylhet, Dhaka and Narayanganj. Although it is very little compared to the total number of stones looted. However, the operation will continue, said Sylhet Deputy Commissioner Md. Sher Mahbub Murad.
The recovered stones are being scattered again in the white stone area.
