A large consignment of illegally extracted white mineral stones – looted from Sylhet’s Bholaganj – has been recovered in Demra’s Sarulia area of the capital.
The recovery was made during a raid conducted by RAB-11 on Thursday night.
In a press briefing at 9:30pm, commander of RAB-11 Lt Col HM Sajjad Hossain confirmed the seizure and gave further details about the illegal extraction.
According to the RAB statement, nearly 200,000 cubic feet of white stones worth around Tk 200 crore to 250 crore were looted from Bholaganj in recent weeks. In addition, about 600,000 cubic feet of sand worth around Tk240 crore was also illegally extracted.
The looted stones were reportedly collected from Dayar Bazar, Kalabari, and Ghat No. 10 in Bholaganj, then transported to various crusher machines for processing.
During Thursday’s raid in Sarulia, authorities expect to recover at least 40,000 cubic feet of the white stones.
Lt Col Sajjad stated, “We launched intelligence surveillance to trace where the stolen stones were being unloaded. In Sarulia, we found white stones from Bholaganj being unloaded and immediately crushed so their origin couldn’t be traced.”
Besides, a joint task force, comprising of district administration and Department of Environment, has launched operations in Sylhet to curb illegal stone extraction. On Thursday alone, nearly 35,000 cubic feet of white stone was seized in Sylhet.
Locals said, there was a pile of white stones in an area of about 15 acres on the banks of the Dhalai River near the zero line of the Bholaganj border, which was once known as a popular tourist destination.
However, since the political change on August 5 last year, large-scale looting of natural resources has been rampant in the region. Residents allege that hundreds of boats operated under the protection of influential groups have been extracting stone, sand, and even riverbank soil.
According to district administration estimates, around 80 per cent of Bholaganj’s white stone reserve has been looted within just one week, resulting in environmental devastation and turning the once-thriving white stone belt into a barren wasteland.