A damning report by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has revealed massive looting of state-owned white stones from the Bholaganj area in Sylhet, allegedly with the direct involvement of police, administration, and political figures.
The report exposes a network of corruption where money flowed into the pockets of officials at multiple levels, including district commissioners, police superintendents, and even BGB personnel.
The ACC’s Sylhet office, led by Deputy Director Rafi Md. Nazmus Sadat, conducted an on-site investigation on 13 August 2025. The report submitted on 17 August to ACC headquarters states that over 42 influential political-business figures were directly or indirectly involved, along with a wide range of administrative and law enforcement officials.
Despite active BGB patrols and existing bans on stone extraction, over Tk 100 crore worth of white stones were looted over the past few months. The report alleges that local administration officials, including UNO, AC Land, and DC, received Tk 5,000 per truck and Tk 500 per boatload as "commission." Similarly, police officials at various levels – from beat officers to the SP and even DB police – received an equivalent share.
Shockingly, the Division Commissioner, Khan Md. Reza-Un-Nabi, encouraged stone extraction during a July meeting, despite a national ban in place since 2020. His comments, widely circulated, allegedly emboldened the looting.
The report states that the stolen stones were initially stored and crushed locally to hide evidence. While the Bureau of Mineral Development (BMD) holds legal authority to intervene, it failed to act, further enabling the looting.
The investigation also found systemic involvement of entire police setups in Companyganj and Gowainghat, naming specific officers such as SI Banakanta and Constable Delwar.
The report lists 50 key individuals and two companies, including 20 BNP leaders, 7 from the Awami League, and others from Jamaat-e-Islami and NCP. Also named were madrasa teachers, local union chairmen, and syndicate organisers who profited from the looting by employing thousands of workers under the shelter of political influence and administrative collusion.
