Police arrested four people involved in illegal sand lifting and trading and also seized drum trucks on Tuesday night from Laxmikunda union of Ishwardi in Pabna.
The detainees are Badsha Sardar (50) of Salimpur Union, Shahadat Hossain (20) of Atgharia upazila, Enamul Sheikh (22) of Abhaynagar and Sabuj Ali (21) of Lalpur Upazila.
Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Ishwardi Upazila Md. Asaduzzaman said, “A case has been filed with Ishwardi Police Station under Section 15 (1) of the Sand and Soil Management Act-2010. A Pabna court sent them jail on Wednesday.”
According to the police sources, four sand-laden drum trucks from Laxmikunda Union of the upazila were coming towards Rooppur junction. Law enforcers stopped the trucks on the road of Charruppur Government Primary School in Salimpur Union. As they failed to show any legal document of sand extraction from the river, they were arrested and the trucks were confiscated.
Sources also said that illegal sand traders have been extracting and transporting sand from Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant, Lalanshah Bridge, Hardinge Bridge and other dams on the river Padma for a long time leaving the zones endangered. They were making profit by excavating soil from different agricultural lands of Laxmikunda Union as well.