Drive underway in Demra to recover Sada Pathor looted from Bholaganj
A joint operation is underway in Sarulia of Dhaka's Demra to recover a large quantity of white mineral stone allegedly looted from Bholaganj in Sylhet's Companiganj upazila.
The drive is being conducted by Rab-11 Narayanganj unit, the district administration, and the Department of Environment of Dhaka unit.
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Lt Col HM Sajjad Hossain, commanding officer of Rab-11, confirmed the information in a press release issued at 9:30pm.
According to the statement, nearly two lakh cubic feet of white stone, worth an estimated Tk 200–250 crore, was illegally extracted from the area in recent times. Around six lakh cubic feet of sand, valued at about Tk 240 crore, was also looted.
The stones were reportedly collected from Doya Bazar, Kolabari, and Bholaganj's No. 10 ghat before being sent to different crusher machines.
Law enforcement agencies have already launched a series of drives to curb illegal extraction. As part of the campaign, the joint team began the operation in Demra this evening to recover both intact and crushed stones.
Officials expect to recover at least 40,000 cubic feet of stone from the spot in Demra.
Briefing journalists at the site, Lt Col Sajjad 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 in 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."
However, no one involved in the looting or stockpiling of the stones has been arrested so far, he added.
The drive was still ongoing at the time of filing this report.
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