Staff Reporter:

Naval police in a drive on Tuesday arrested five persons for lifting sand illegally from the Jamuna River in Chowhali Upazila of Sirajganj district.

Acting on a tip-off, Md. Firoz Ahmed, in-charge of Chowhali Naval Police Outpost, conducted a drive and arrested them.

The arrested are Md. Nazrul Islam, 45, Al Amin, 28, Md. Siddiq Hossain, 50, Mamod Ali, 48, of Khashkaulia Jajuria village in Chowhali Police Station in Sirajganj and Md. Rafiqul Islam, 30, of Nagarpur Upazila of Tangail district.

The naval police said that, they had been illegally extracting sand from various points of the Jamuna river using dredgers for a long time.

A boat was also seized during the drive. A case was filed against the arrested persons under Section 15(1) of the Sand and Soil Management Act 2010 and Section 431 of the Penal Code. Chowhali Police Station OC Abdul Barik confirmed the matter.