Another Chhatra League leader arrested in Sylhet sugar theft

Police say nearly 1.5 tonnes of sugar were looted from a truck

Police have arrested another Chhatra League leader on allegations of looting nearly 1.5 tonnes of sugar from a truck in Sylhet’s Beanibazar Upazila.

Ashraful Alam Shakil, former president of the municipal BCL, was taken into custody during a raid in Lauta Union of the Upazila on Friday afternoon, said Debdulal Dhar, chief of Beanibazar Police Station.

Shakil was sent to court, with police seeking he be remanded for interrogation, said OC Debdadul.

This arrest brings the total number of suspects detained in the sugar looting case to four, he added.

According to the police, nearly 1.5 tonnes of sugar were looted from a truck driver in the Charkhai area on Beanibazar Road, on Jun 8.

The case, filed by sugar owner BadruI Islam at Beanibazar Police Station, initially named 11 people, with 7-8 others listed as unnamed suspects.

Among those arrested is Jahidul Haque Tahmid, the former general secretary of the BCL unit in Beanibazar Upazila.

Meanwhile, in response to the sugar looting incident, the central executive committee of the BCL dissolved the committees of Beanibazar Upazila and the municipal BCL unit on Friday.

The arrests came amid seizures of hundreds of sacks of sugar smuggled into Bangladesh from India through the borders of northeastern Sylhet-Netrokona region.