They feast on rice meant for the poor: some sentenced, some suspended

The police and the local administration are vigilant in trying to prevent people who try to embezzle rice that is intended for the poor. The law enforcers have been successful in bringing many of these embezzlers to book whenever they have been informed of such incidents taking place. Many people have been detained over allegations of hoarding relief material and rice belonging to the government food programme.

A union parishad chairman in Pabna has been suspended for involvement in embezzling rice. The Awami League has also suspended him from the party.

Our correspondents filed the following reports on the misuse and misappropriation of relief goods across the country.

Oil well under the bed!

Not one or two litres, but as much as 1,238 litres of oil has been seized. The oil was hidden under a bed by three unscrupulous businessmen.

At 10 am on Wednesday, the Detective Branch of police in Rangpur seized the oil after raiding a house in the city's East Parbatipur area. They arrested two people involved in the crime ─ the house owner and TCB businessman Hanif Mia, 58, and product supplier Lal Mia, 52.

For the sake of investigation, the police have not revealed the name of another person who is absconding.

Confirming the matter, Rangpur Metropolitan Police (Detective Branch) Deputy Commissioner Uttam Prasad said, "We raided Hanif Mia's house and seized 1,238 litres of TCB's soybean oil which they had bought from the black market and had hoarded to sell later at a high price. We have filed cases against them."

184 bags of rice from Awami League leader's house

Around midnight on Wednesday, RAB-8 in Barishal seized 184 bags of rice from the home of Nure Alam, a member of the Babuganj upazila Awami League and the chairman of Kedarpur union parishad. The rice had been earmarked for allocation to poor fishermen.

Nure Alam sensed the presence of the RAB team and escaped from the house before he could be caught.

UP member punished for selling OMS rice elsewhere

In Gazipur, Kapasia upazila nirbahi officer and mobile court magistrate Ismat Ara on Wednesday imposed 7-day imprisonment and a fine of Tk50,000 on the city's Chandpur union parishad member Bilkis Begum, 42, for hoarding OMS (open market sale) rice and selling it to people who are not cardholders.

UP chairman suspended over relief embezzlement

Korban Ali, Dhalarchar union parishad chairman of Bera upazila in Pabna and union Awami League secretary, has been suspended from the Awami League and exempted from duty as the union parishad chairman.

The local government division issued a gazette notification on this issue on Wednesday.

The RAB on Monday detained Korban Ali and seized 229 bags of OMS rice from his possession. Pabna District Awami League suspended him from the party following the detention.

Shop owner detained with 800 kg of rice

The police in Mymensingh's Tarakanda area on Thursday seized 800 kilograms of rice belonging to the government food programme from a shop in Kacharibazar in Galagaon union. They have also detained the shop owner named Emdad.

Abdul Khayer, the officer-in-charge of Tarakanda Police Station confirmed the matter and said, "Emdad took the rice from a dealer named Abdur Rahman. We have filed a case against Emdad. We will also look into the matter to determine if the dealer is involved in the incident."

UP chairman suspended over misappropriation of government rice

Abdus Salam, chairman of Pangashi union parishad in Rayganj in Sirajganj, has been temporarily suspended over the misappropriation of rice belonging to the government food programme.

He has allegedly been embezzling rice allocated for the poor for many years. After an investigation, the local government found evidence supporting the allegations made against this person.  

Additional deputy commissioner Firoz Mahmud confirmed the matter after quoting the gazette notification signed by local government division deputy secretary Mohammad Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury.