Sada Pathor looting: 2,000 people sued in Sylhet, 5 arrested

A case has been filed against 2,000 unidentified persons in connection with the looting of stones from Bholaganj stone quarry in Companiganj upazila of Sylhet district.

Director general (joint secretary) of the Bureau of Mineral Development (BMD), Anwarul Habib filed the case with Companiganj Police Station on Friday night, said officer-in-charge (OC) of Companiganj Police Station Uzayer Al Mahmud Adnan.

Meanwhile, police arrested five people on Saturday for their alleged involvement in looting stones, said the officer-in-charge.

The arrestees are Mohammad Kamal alias Picchi Kamal, 45, Abu Sayed, 21, Abul Kalam, 32, Iman Ali, 28 and Jahangir Alam, 35 of the upazila.

Among them, Iman and Jahangir were arrested along with two trucks loaded with stones from a check post set up on Sylhet-Companiganj road in Sylhet Airport area.

The large-scale looting of stones caused a nationwide uproar recently, prompting the High Court to issue an order to recover and reinstall the looted stones and submit a list of suspected people involved in it to the court.

Later, joint forces including police and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) launched a drive and recovered a total of 109,000 cubic feet of looted stones from Jaflong and Sada Pathor areas.

Of that, 40,000 cubic feet of stones were recovered from Narayanganj. Meanwhile, RAB recovered a large volume of stones from Asampur area under Jaintapur Police Station in Sylhet.