Snippets

Convict dies in custody
Our Correspondent, Pabna

A prisoner died in the district on Tuesday night. Deceased Md Tofazzal Hossain, 48, of Raghabpur village was sentenced to six months' imprisonment for drug peddling.  He fell sick in the district jail at about 6:00pm and was taken to Pabna Medical College and Hospital where attending doctors declared him dead.  Dr Abu Zafar, medical officer of the jail, said Tofazzal died of cardiac arrest.

School kids fall sick
Our Correspondent, Pabna

At least 15 students at Shahpur primary school in Ishwardi upazila fell sick simultaneously yesterday, triggering panic. Following the incident, the authorities shut the school. School sources said, Toma Khatun, a class three student, became senseless inside the class at about 10:00am. Within a few minutes, 14 others of different classes became unconscious one after another. On information, guardians rushed in and took their children to home, said acting headmaster Mahamuda Khatun. Dr Amin Ahmed Khan of the upazila health complex said that the 15 were now out of danger. The incident might be a case of mass hysteria, he said.

Crackers recovered
Our Correspondent, Dinajpur

Members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) recovered a huge quantity of crackers in Ghoraghat upazila yesterday morning. On a secret information, a team of BGB Phulbari-40 battalion, raided Dugdugi Bazar and recovered 1500 packets of Indian crackers. Each pack contains 28 highly powered crackers, said Lt Col Khandaker Mizanur Rahman, commanding officer of the battalion.

'Smuggler' killed by gangmen
Our Correspondent, Netrakona

An alleged smuggler was killed by his accomplices over share of money earned through smuggling at Gondaber village in Durgapur upazila yesterday. The deceased was identified as Ali Akber Khan, 40, of Gondaber village. Officer in-charge of Durgapur police station Alamgir Hossain said there was a conflict between smugglers Akber, Sobhan and Rubel of the area over distribution of the money for the last few days. As a sequel to the conflict, Sobhan and Rubel attacked Akbar following an altercation over the issue. After the incident, locals caught red-handed Ali Sobhan and Rubel and handed them over to police, said the OC.

Camp for cleft-lip patients
Our Correspondent, Tangail

A free plastic surgery camp for poor people with cleft-lip and defective palate has been organised at Kumudini Hospital in Mirzapur upazila. A team of surgeons headed by Dr Syed Shamsuddin Ahmed, former head of plastic surgery department at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital, is performing the operation of such patients free of cost. All such patients across the country have been urged to take the treatment, said Kumudini Hospital authorities.  On June 5, an agreement was signed between Kumudini Welfare Trust (KWT) and KWT and Smile Train, an International NGO, in this regard.