Another rice laden truck hijacked in Tangail

An armed gang hijacked a rice laden truck from Nagaon at Karotia of Tangail district on Monday night.
With this, at least eight rice trucks from the rice trading centres of Naogaon towards Dhaka were hijacked from the highway between Tangail and Joydevpur during the last two months, causing heavy loss and worries to the traders.
Following the incident, truckers yesterday threatened to stop carrying rice to Dhaka and adjoining districts if security is not ensured immediately.
Naogaon District Truck Owners' Association secretary Salahuddin Khan Tipu said a truck containing 280 sacks of rice from M/s Satata Rice Agency left Monday evening for Rajanigandha Super Market of Kachukhet in Dhaka City.
Hijackers barricaded the truck with two microbuses at Karotia. They pulled the driver and helper out of the truck at gunpoint, blindfolded them and took them to unknown destination by a microbus. Another group of hijackers took away rice laden truck.
Driver Abdur Rahman and helper Firoz Mia were rescued blindfolded, hands and legs tied with rope from a secluded roadside place in Tangail town yesterday. But the rice and truck could not be traced till evening.
Rice owner Dipak Kundu filed a case with Sadar model police station.
Lamenting for the loss, he said additional IGP AKM Shahidul Haq had called the rice dealers of Naogaon to a meeting in Dhaka last month. The police officials at the meeting held out categorical assurance of security to rice carriers on the highway.
The rice dealers pointed out that hijacking of all the rice trucks took place on the highway in between Tangail and Joydevpur. They suspected connivance of a section of the police with the hijackers.