Staff Reporter:

Joint forces led by Army in two separate drives recovered about 16,000 kg of government’s fair price rice from Raiganj and Sirajganj Sadar upazila on Thursday night.

During the drives, the elite forces detained seven persons in these connections.

The arrested are: Mahfuz Hossain, 25, Sakil Hossain, 28, Raju Ahemd, 25, Shariful Islam alias Sharif Hossain, 35, Alamgir Hossain, 36, Jakir Hossain, 32, and Saiful Islam, 35. The arrested were handed over to the respective police stations after filing separate cases in connection with the incidents.

Acting on tip-off, two separate patrol teams from Sirajganj Sadar Army Camp and Nimgachi Army Camp took part in the separate operations at a time at around 8:00pm and recovered the mentioned amount of rice from two places.

Of them, the joint forces recovered about 500 sacks (about 10,000 kg) of the government’s fair price rice from North Bengal Flower Mills located in Mirpur area of Sirajganj town.

In another team of the Army personnel recovered approximately 6,000 kg of the government rice after conducting a raid at Chirampur area in Raiganj upazila of the district. At that time, the joint forces detained seven people in this connection.

Lt. Ahsan, In-charge of Sirajganj Sadar Army Camp, “Army always works for the welfare of the people of the country. Based on secret information, we conducted this operation and were able to successfully recover a large amount of government rice. We are determined to protect the rights of the poor.”

He further added, “Our operations will continue wherever information about such irregularities or illegal hoarding is found in different places of Sirajganj district. We hope that due to such operations, unscrupulous groups will stop their evil activities.”

Md. Monowar Hossain, UNO of Sirajganj Sadar upazila described the operation as a reflection of the government’s commitment to the food security program.

He said, “Embedding this rice allocated for the poor and needy is a heinous crime. We are viewing this incident with great seriousness and no one involved in it will be spared. Exemplary punishment of such corrupt people will be ensured through strict implementation of the law.”