514 sacks of fertiliser seized

A mobile court has seized around 514 sacks of fertiliser worth Tk 4.18 lakh while those were being smuggled from a dealer's warehouse in Lalmonirhat.

On information, Abdullah Al Noman Sarkar, Sadar upazila assistant commissioner (land) and executive magistrate, conducted the drive in Pora Batertal under ​​Mahendranagar union on Friday night.

The fertiliser dealer has been absconding since the incident, said Noman.

The seized fertiliser includes 320 sacks of DAP and 194 sacks of TSP. Each of the sacks contains 50kg of fertiliser.

The government sells per sack of DAP fertiliser at Tk 700 and TSP at Tk 1,000 to dealers who are instructed to retail each sack of DAP at a maximum Tk 800 and TSP at Tk 1,100, said officials.

But the dealers allegedly sell each sack of DAP at Tk 1,000-1,100 and TSP at Tk 1,400-1,500 to the farmers.

Local farmer Fazle Rahman alleged that the dealer did not sell the fertiliser to them. "When we went to him, he said he was out of stock."

The dealer was trying to smuggle the fertiliser to earn more profit, he alleged.