17 hurt as officers, journalists attacked during crackdown on Teesta stone extraction

A crackdown on illegal stone extraction along the Teesta River has turned violent, as law enforcers, journalists and local leaders came under attack in Nilphamari’s Dimla.

Upazila administrator (UNO) Md Imranuzzaman said the incident took place at Tepakhribari Union on Thursday, when a police van was vandalised and journalists covering the incident were also assaulted.

Police, Army and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) members were later deployed in the location to calm the situation.  

At least three policemen were initially reported injured, though a local police sub-inspector later said seven officers had been hurt.

The injured include Tepakhribari Union Parishad Chairman Rabiul Islam Shahin, Jamaat’s former chief of the union Afsar Ali, local resident Anwar Hossain and two policemen Rabiul Islam and Thhakur Das.

The other policeman could not be identified immediately.

Preparations to detain the attackers were under way, said the UNO.

All 17 were first taken to Dimla Upazila Health Complex, from where seven injured including the chairman were shifted to Rangpur Medical College Hospital with serious injuries.

A gang has long been illegally extracting and selling stones from the river, causing havoc to the river embankments and roads in the area, police said.

Despite several raids by the Upazila administration, the gang continued the extractions.

Rabiul and village police members were the first ones to be attacked after they went to the scene in the morning.

When a team from the local police station reached there along with journalists, they were also assaulted.

Journalist Badshah Pramanik, who is among those assaulted, said he filed a case on Feb 27, four days after an attack on him for filming stone extraction.  

“Amid the administration’s failure to arrest the suspects, we’re attacked yet again today,” he added.

A minister had recently warned against illegal sand and stone extraction, highlighting growing concerns over unchecked riverbed exploitation across the country.