Timber seized from bus in Khagrachhari

Forest officials at Khagrachhari seize planks of teak, which were being smuggled out of the hill district by a bus yesterday. Photo: STAR

Khagrachhari forest officials yesterday recovered 112 pieces of stolen teak planks from a bus at its counter in the sadar Bazar area. They also seized the bus of Hill King Transport, which was to carry the consignment to Dhaka.
Sources at the divisional forest office said, acting on a tip off, a team of forest officials led by Ranger SM Ali Asgar raided the Hill King bus counter and found the bus loaded with illegal planks of teak. The bus was about to leave the hill district with no passengers on board.
Bus driver Mohammad Badal and his conductor Zia managed to escape the scene.
The group of officials, later, took the bus to the divisional forest office premises.
Ranger Asgar said a syndicate is involved in the illegal transfer of precious timber. He hinted that some politically influential people were behind the illegal logging and transferring of teak to Dhaka. He, however, did not mention any names.
Forest officer Mohammad Ali Kabir told the reporters that the owner of the bus Mofiz Ullah and some politically connected transport association officials were involved in this.
"We will file a case under Forest and Transit Act against bus owner, drivers, supervisor and transport association leaders," he said alleging that already some political leaders of the district have started lobbying for the release of the seized bus and timber.