35,000cft of white stones recovered and restored to Sada Pathor

The district administration, during a joint operation in Bholaganj of Sylhet's Companiganj upazila and parts of Sylhet city, recovered over 35,000 cubic feet of stones previously looted from the Sada Pathor tourist spot.

The operation, which began shortly after midnight on Wednesday and continued till yesterday afternoon, was in coordination with law enforcement agencies.

The administration also seized 70 trucks that were carrying the stones.

According to officials concerned, there were around 1.80 crore cubic feet of stones in the iconic landmark.

Police yesterday also arrested Purbo IslampurUnion Parishad Chairman Alomgir Hossain Alom in connection with the looting incident, confirmed Uzayer Al Mahmud Adnan, officer-in-charge of Companiganj Police Station.

Alomgir is also the joint convenor of Companiganj Krishak Dal and local government affairs secretary of the upazila unit BNP.

Meanwhile, the Sylhet district administration has vowed tough action against those involved in the large-scale looting of stones from the site, pledging full restoration of the area.

Workers even out recovered stones on the Dhalai river at Sada Pathor in Sylhet’s Bholaganj yesterday. Law enforcers and security forces intercepted trucks and boats loaded with stones stolen from Sada Pathor and forced the thieves to bring those back to the river. Boatloads of stones were dumped in the river yesterday. Photo: Sheikh Nasir

Environment activists said the looting started almost immediately following the Awami League regime's fall on August 5, 2024, after a quiet period of nearly four years at the stone extraction sites in the Sylhet region.

They also alleged that the administration did almost nothing for months despite protests from environmental organisations.

The issue came to the limelight earlier this week following media reports showing the area completely stripped of the white stones.

Visiting the spot yesterday afternoon, Deputy Commissioner Md Sher Mahbub Murad said, "The district administration has taken a strict stance to stop the looting. Those involved will face legal action… We aim to recover all the stolen stones and restore them here, but it will take time."

The DC also said a high-level meeting on Wednesday night decided to deploy joint forces in the area round the clock, set up police checkposts in Gowainghat and Companiganj, and disconnect power supplies to illegal stone-crushing machines.

Also yesterday, the High Court ordered the government to form a five-member committee with representatives from the district administration, BGB and Rab to list those involved in the looting and submit the report within 60 days.

The HC bench of Justice Kazi Zinat Hoque and Justice Aynun Nahar Siddiqua issued the directives and rule following a writ petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh seeking necessary orders.

The petitioner's lawyer, Manzill Murshid, told the HC that stones worth around Tk 200 crore had been looted from Bholaganj under the watch of the administration and some locally influential people for a long time.

In this regard, Sylhet DC Mahbub said, "We will follow the HC orders once we receive them."

Earlier on Wednesday, the Anti-Corruption Commission visited the site to collect evidence, while the district administration formed a three-member probe committee to submit a report by Sunday (August 16).

Earlier on Monday, BNP suspended Companiganj unit president Shahab Uddin from all posts over allegations of his involvement in the stone looting.

Meanwhile, a joint operation was underway last night in Sarulia of Dhaka's Demra to recover a large number of stones looted from Sada Pathor.

 The drive is being conducted by Narayanganj's Rab-11, the district administration, and the environment department's Dhaka unit.

Lt Col HM Sajjad Hossain, commanding officer of Rab-11, confirmed the information in a press release issued at 9:30pm.

Briefing journalists at the site around 9:15pm, he said, "We started intelligence work to find out where the looted stones were being unloaded. Here in Sarulia, we found Bholaganj's white stone stored in several warehouses -- at least seven of them. On the banks of the Shitalakkhya, stones were being unloaded on one side and crushed on the other to conceal their origin."

The drive was still ongoing at the time of filing this report at 10:30pm.

(Our Sylhet and Narayanganj correspondents contributed to the report.)