Sand lifting continues unabated in Cox’s Bazar

Powerful syndicates are involved in lifting earth and sand illegally in Cox's Bazar, generating no less than Tk 5 crore daily from this business.

The activities are damaging the environmental biodiversity of the coastal region to an alarming extent.

The syndicates are comprised of mostly vehicles owners in every upazila. They are illegally extracting an estimated 30 lakh cubic feet of sand and earth daily. Officials concerned of law enforcement agencies, forest department, and BRTA get a cut of the revenues as bribes, said sources.

These syndicates are so influential that they resort to attacking anyone who opposes their illicit activities.

The matter came to light after Sazzaduzzaman, 30, a beat officer of Dochhari Forest Beat of Ukhiya range under Cox's Bazar South Forest Division, was ran over and left dead on the spot by a dump truck carrying stolen earth from a reserve forest in Ukhiya of Cox's Bazar on March 31.

"It was a premeditated murder because Sazzad had become a headache for the syndicate. He seized six dump trucks carrying stolen earth in the past month and filed cases against those involved," alleged Gazi Shafiul Alam, a forest officer of Ukhiya range.

Meanwhile, police so far managed to arrest only one of the 10 accused in connection with Sazzad's murder, even as six days have passed since the incident.

Shamim Hossain, officer-in-charge of Ukhiya Police Station, said they are trying to arrest the other criminals.

Meanwhile, at least 1500 unregistered dump trucks are engaged in transporting the earth and sand extracted illegally from different areas in Cox's Bazar. There are only 150 registered dump trucks in the district, most employed at the Rohingya camps.

Md Mamunur Rashed, an inspector at the vehicle office, cited a shortage of manpower hindering their ability to take action against the illegal dump trucks.

While fines are imposed on these trucks at times, those cannot be seized due to lack of dumping ground, he added.

"These unregistered dump trucks are solely engaged in transporting stolen earth and sand. Taking actions against these could significantly curb illegal hill cutting and sand lifting," said Sarwar Alam, divisional forest officer of Cox's Bazar South Forest Division.

Naimul Islam Chowdhury, president of Cox's Bazar District Truck Owner Association, stated that illegal dump trucks pay bribes ranging from Tk 3,000-5,000 to highway and traffic police, BRTA, and the forest department.

"Each vehicle, carrying approximately 200cft of earth or sand, typically makes around 10 trips per day. The price of earth ranges from Tk 1,000-1,200 per truckload, while sand fetches at least Tk 5,000 per truckload," he also said.

Despite raising the issue multiple times during district law and order meetings, Naimul expressed frustration that no action has yet been taken.

According to the district administration, there are a total of 36 approved sand pits (Balu Mahal) in Cox's Bazar. However, perpetrators are illegally plundering sand from rivers and crop fields at hundreds of locations, and earth from hills.

Since the illegally extracted sand and earth are transported late at night, it is difficult for law enforcers to take action since their duties typically end at around 11:00pm, said Jasim Uddin, additional superintendent of police of Cox's Bazar traffic division.