Selim Talukder from Shahzadpur:

Joint forces in combination with police and army in a drive at Baziarpara in Shahzadpur upazila of Sirajganj district on Wednesday arrested a man for lifting sands illegally from Karatoa river.

The arrested was identified as Almas Pramanik, son of Chand Pramanik and brother of Anis Pramanik of Dargarchar village in the upazila. During the drive, the team of elite forces also seized four trucks and a veku machine from the spot as those were using for the extracting and transporting the sands.

Sources said, Almas Pramanik’s brother Anis Pramanik, who is locally known as sand king, had been lifting and selling sands from the mentioned point of the Karatoa river without consent of the authorities concerned. Thus he has amassed crores of Taka.

Tipped-off that, a team of the joint forces led by Ullapara Camp Commander Major Rezwan and Sub-Inspector of Shahzadpur police station Shariful Islam conducted a raid at the mentioned place at around 1:00pm.

Sensing the presence of law enforcers, those, who were involved with the extracting and selling of sands managed to flee the scene. The elite forces however detained Almas Pramanik, also brother of main culprit Anis Pramanik from the spot and seized the vehicles.

On information, Mushfiqur Rahman, Assistant Commissioner of Land (AC-land) in Shahzadpur visited the spot.

The arrestee Almas was handed over to the respective police station. Preparation to lodge a case was going on while filing the report.

Locals said that, Almas and his brother Anis have become multimillionaire by lifting and selling sands illegally from different rivers without legal approval of the authorities concerned. They carried out such illicit activities under the shadow of influential Awami League leaders in the area, they added.