Meanwhile, the government yesterday suspended eight top level forest officials after their names had appeared on the list of corrupt government officials prepared by the joint forces based on information divulged by detained Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) Osman Gani.

Four of the suspended officials had been arrested on Sunday. They are Conservator of Forests (CF) of Central Circle Ali Kabir Haider, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Shamsul Azam, CF of Khulna Sheikh Mizanur Rahman, and DFO of Rangamati Asit Ranjan Pal.

The four others are Salahuddin Ahmed, CF of Barisal Circle, Kartik Chandra Sarkar, DFO of Social Forestry Division, Abdul Latif Mian, DFO of Dhaka, and Abu Hanif Patwary, DFO of Tangail.

The forest officials detained yesterday are DFO Jafrul Hasan of Chittagong, and DFO Lashkar Maksudur Rahman of Sylhet.

On the same day the forces also searched the office of Dr Tapan Kumar Dey, a DFO also the chief of Wildlife Management And Nature Conservation Department at Sholoshahar of Chittagong.

During the raid the joint-forces seized over Tk 12.96 lakh kept in a cupboard and a bag in the chamber of Abul Al Amin Mohammad Malekuzzaman, a deputy ranger of the Sadar Range in Chittagong. The chamber is located in the same office. The raid was going on till 5:45pm.

The crack forces confiscated the money since no document could be presented justifying the money kept in the office, said sources.

DFO Tapan was absent from the office yesterday, the sources added.

The security personnel also picked up three forest officials -- Malekuzzaman, Accountant Lutfur Rahman, and Assistant Conservator of Forest (ACF) Md Ali from the office and handed them over to police.

They were taken to Panchlaish police station for interrogation in the evening.

On Sunday the crack forces arrested four other custodians of the country's forests in Dhaka, Khulna and Rangamati. Three of them were put on different terms of remand yesterday while another one Ashit Ranjan Pal was handed over to Potenga police yesterday.

The arrestees are on the list of suspected corrupt top-level officials who allegedly plundered the forest resources. The list was prepared based on information gleaned from detained multimillionaire CCF Osman Gani.

SYLHET
Our staff correspondent reported from Sylhet that DFO of Sylhet Lashkar Maksudur Rahman was arrested on charge of corruption yesterday. The joint forces picked him up from the Forest Beat Office at Srimangal in Moulvibazar around 5:00pm and took him to Sylhet in the evening.

An official said the DFO was arrested on charges of corruption and he was being interrogated.

Meanwhile, the joint forces started searching the DFO's Topkhana residence in Dhaka in the evening. They seized some important files and compact disks (CD) from the house. The search was going on till filing of this report late last night. His father-in-law's house in the capital's Segunbagicha area was also being searched last night, sources said.

CHITTAGONG
Our Chittagong University (CU) correspondent reported that Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) members arrested DFO (Practical) Dewan Jafrul Hasan yesterday after he had surrendered to Rab - 7 head quarters at Patenga in the city around 4:

00pm.

Jafrul Hasan was being questioned by Rab officials till 6:00pm.

Earlier in the day, Rab raided his Nandan Kanan office, prompting him to surrender to the elite crime fighting force.

On Sunday afternoon, the joint forces raided the offices of CF Atiqul Azam and Jafrul Hasan at Nandan Kanan in the city and the office of DFO (North) Dr Tapan Kumar Dey at Sholoshahar Gate No 2.

Tapan reportedly had close ties with detained CCF Osman Gani, having special privileges.

He served as a DFO in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (South), in the forest department of Rangamati Circle, in Sundarban forest department, and in Chittagong Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation Department.

Osman Gani appointed Tapan as the DFO of Chittagong (North) department, the sources said. It is alleged that Tapan earned several crores of taka during his tenures in different important posts always providing a share of his illegal earnings to Osmani Gani.

REMAND
Deputy Forest Conservator (DFC) Shamsul Azam and CF of Dhaka Division Ali Kabir Haider were put on five-day remand each by a Dhaka Court yesterday.

Besides, a Khulna court on the same day sent CF of Khulna Circle Sheikh Mizanur Rahman to five days of remand for questioning about his corruption, abuse of official power, and about making a large amount of illegal wealth and properties.

Police told the court that being a government official Haider in association with detained CCF Osman Gani had been involved in destroying forests of the country and accumulated a huge amount of wealth in the process.

About Azam, police in their forwarding report mentioned that he was involved in smuggling timber during his service since 1985 and misappropriated government wealth. He also amassed a huge amount of wealth through bribery and corruption.

KHULNA
Our staff correspondent reported from Khulna that Khalishpur police filed a case against Mizanur Rahman under the Emergency Power Rules.

Sources in the joint forces said Mizanur told them on Sunday night that he has a bank balance of Tk 9 lakh deposited with Khulna branches of Oriental Bank and Standard Chartered Bank. He also admitted that he owns a shrimp farm on over 40 bighas of land under Dakop upazila of Khulna.

Besides, the crack forces picked up forest ranger Yunus Ali, and Mahammad Paltu, a boatman of west wing of Sundarban Forest Division (SFD), on Sunday night. They were however released yesterday morning after a nightlong interrogation.

Forest ranger Yunus Ali is one of the eleven SFD officials identified as an aide to detained CCF Osman Gani. The forest ministry had directed Yunus to submit his wealth statement by June 20, which he failed to do.