Police have arrested five people in connection with the large-scale looting of stones from the Bholaganj Sadapathor tourist site in Companiganj upazila of Sylhet.
The arrests were made during a late-night drive on Friday (August 15), confirmed Companiganj Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Uzair Al Mahmud Adnan. However, police have not disclosed the identities of those arrested.
Earlier the same day, the Bureau of Mineral Development (BMD) Director General (Joint Secretary) Anwarul Habib filed a case with Companiganj Police Station over the illegal extraction of stones from Bholaganj.
The case named no specific individuals but accused between 1,500 and 2,000 unidentified people.
Notably, stone theft from the Sadapathor area along the Dholai River in Companiganj has been a recurring problem since August 5 last year. In the past two weeks alone, stones worth crores of taka have reportedly been looted.
In response, the district administration launched a special operation at midnight on Thursday (August 14) to recover the stolen stones.
The drive is still ongoing. Authorities said that, as of yesterday, around 100,000 cubic feet of stones had already been recovered and were being re-deposited into the Dholai River.
