Forester's murder in Cox’s Bazar: Mastermind among 2 arrested

Members of the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) have arrested two people including the alleged mastermind behind the killing of forest officer Sazzaduzzaman in Cox's Bazar.

The arrestees are Kamal Uddin, 39, of Harinmara area in Cox's Bazar's Ukhiya upazila and Helal Uddin, 27, of Tuturbil area of the same upazila, reports our Cox's Bazar staff correspondent.

Kamal was arrested from Sitakunda of Chattogram while Helal was arrested from Kotbazar area of Ukhiya yesterday in separate drives, said Lt Col HM Sajjad Hossain, commanding officer (CO) of Rab-15 in a press briefing today.

Sajjad said the forest officer was killed in a pre-planned way. The arrestees plotted the murder as Sazzaduzzaman prevented them from cutting hills and selling soil.

During the primary interrogation, the arrestees revealed that a gang led by local Kamal, Helal, Gafur, and Babul in the Harinmara area has been illegally cutting hills of reserved forest lands and selling soil for a long time.

"There are about 10/12 dumpers and a few dredgers under the gang. They used to cut the hill in the dark of the night and sell it for Tk 900 to 1,200 per dump truck," the Rab official said.

"Sazzaduzzaman, a beat officer of Dochhari forest beat of Ukhiya range under Cox's Bazar South Forest Division, was known as a brave and honest officer. He conducted several drives, seized five earth-cutting dredgers and several dumpers, and filed several cases under the Forest Act against the criminals involved in the hill cutting" he added.

One of the seized dump trucks belonged to the arrested Kamal, said the official.

On March 31, Sazzaduzzaman tried to stop a dump truck carrying stolen earth from a razed hill at Harinmara reserve forest in Ukhiya of Cox's Bazar when the truck ran over him and left him dead on the spot.