Four dredgers, two boats seized
The Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested 14 illegal sand lifters and seized four dredgers and two boats used for carrying sand from the Padma River at Najirganj in Sujanagar upazila under the district yesterday.
A mobile court awarded the arrestees jail terms and fine the same day.
Hundreds of dredgers are engaged in illegal sand lifting at the different places of the Padma River for long, said locals and officials.
Acting on a tip, an operation team of Rab-12 from its Pabna camp raided Najirganj, a big sand lifting point in the mighty river yesterday morning.
The elite force seized four dredgers and two boats and arrested 14 people on charge of illegal sand lifting from the spot.
In the afternoon, the arrestees were produced before a mobile court led by Executive Magistrate Md Soleman Ali, Sub Inspector Ahmed Ali Bishwas of Pabna Rab camp said in a press release.
Of the arrestees, Md Billal Hossain, 29, Md Rasu Prang, 25, Md Harun, 50, Md Sujon, 30, Sabuz Miah, 35, Ibrahim, 23, Abdur Rahim, 50, Md Ali Hossain, 40, were awarded one year’s imprisonment while Md Rafikul Islam, 35, Md Nuruzzaman, 30, and Md Johurul Islam, 26, got six months’ jail term.
They hail from different areas of Munshiganj, Sirajganj, Bhola, and Patuakhali districts.
Three others, boatmen Md Ishhaque Majhi, 52, Aziz Mondol, 58, and Md Abul Mondol were fined Tk 50 thousand each, the press release said.
“The drive was conducted to check illegal sand lifting from the Padma. Fourteen people were arrested but many other sand lifters managed to escape. Such drives will continue,” said Pabna Rab’s Deputy Director Sheikh Moniruzzaman.
daily star