Hill cutting equipment seized in joint operation at Sitakunda
A team of district administration and law enforcement agencies has seized hill cutting equipment and trucks from the Jungle Salimpur hill area in Chattogram's Sitakunda.
Members of the Chattogram District Administration, Police, Department of Environment and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) conducted a joint operation in Alinagar on Friday morning and seized three excavators, three drum trucks and a truck which were used for cutting hills illegally.
Alinagar is known to be the empire of local terrorist Mohammad Yasin.
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Chattogram Region Deputy Director of Environment Department Ferdous Anwar, District Administration Executive Magistrate Md Al Mamun, Sitakunda Upazila Assistant Commissioner (Land) and Executive Magistrate Md Ashraful Alam, RAB Camp Commander Major Fahad, Sitakunda Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Abul Kalam Azad and hundreds of police and RAB members participated in the joint operation.
OC Abul Kalam told The Business Standard that the operation was carried out on the allegation of illegal hill cutting. The police have assisted the Department of Environment. Two cases have been registered against Yasin – one of assault and one of cutting hills. The accused is in jail.
On 15 July, Chattogram District Administration Local Government Department Deputy Director Badiul Alam, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) Nazmul Ahsan, Additional Deputy Commissioner (LA) Masud Kamal, Sitakunda Upazila Executive Officer Shahadat Hossain, Revenue Deputy Collector (RDC) Mong Marma and Sitakunda Upazila Assistant Commissioner (Land) Ashraful Alam and Salimpur Union Parishad (UP) Chairman Salahuddin Aziz went to visit Alinagar.
On the way back after the visit, people of the Yasin gang stopped the convoy, took local union parishad member Mohammad Arif, who was travelling with the UP chairman, out of the car and beat him up, pointing a gun at him.
Arif's younger brother Abdul Alim filed a case with Sitakunda Model Police Station accusing Yasin, Farooq and six others.
On 18 July, Sitakunda Thana Police arrested Yasin with the help of Detective Branch police officers from Kotwali.
