Jewellers attack journos during raid by police
Jewellers and their staffers attacked journalists and vandalised their equipment in Sylhet city yesterday, when the journalists were covering a police raid at a jewellery shop.
The incident took place around 12:00pm, minutes after police entered the store at Haque Super Market of Zindabazar area.
No journalist was critically injured, but a camera of NTV was vandalised, said Maruf Ahmed, general secretary of Electronic Media Journalist Association (EMJA) in Sylhet.
On the night of October 26, around 28 bhori of gold jewellery were stolen from the house of journalist Ashraful Kabir at the city's Laladighir Par area.
He later filed a theft case with Kotwali Police Station.
Police recently arrested three persons over the theft, and based on the arrestees' statement, raided "Venus Jewellers" amid the presence of journalists.
Maruf said, "At one point of the police search, gold traders of the market locked into an altercation and tried to confine the journalists and police. Later, they attacked the journalists when the latter were recording videos."
A case over the attack will be filed, he added.
Staff of the market's jewellers also blocked Zindabazar road for around an hour protesting the raid and journalists' presence, said Ayatur Rahman, president of Haque Super Market Bebshayi Samity.
Azhabar Ali Sheikh, deputy commissioner of Sylhet Metropolitan Police, said, "During the raid in the afternoon, the jeweller [Venus] denied the thief's claim of selling gold to it. Later that day, we searched a thief's house and found a receipt of the jewellery store."
"A jeweller can buy used gold jewellery, but all related documents of the seller and proof of previous legal purchase must be kept. However, this jeweller did not follow the rules and blocked police when they entered the store to search," he said.
Azhabar said, "After probing, the jeweller might be included in the theft case for abetting the crime. We are still investigating the matter," he said.
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