Shady business with OMS, VGD rice:3,750 sacks seized in Ctg, Bogra
Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) seized 3,750 sacks of rice meant for open market sale (OMS) and vulnerable group development programme from six warehouses in Chittagong and Bogra yesterday.
In the port city, a team of Rab-7 conducted a drive at the Pahartali rice market and seized 2,500 sacks of OMS rice from five warehouses -- Gaffar Traders, Selim Traders, Lucky Traders, Faruk Traders, Safa Traders, said Rab.
However, owner of Faruk Traders Md Faruk showed two memos and claimed they bought the rice from N Alam Traders of Tabalchhari in Rangamati. He also claimed N Alam Traders had bought the rice through a tender held at Rangamati Cantonment.The sacks were seized in presence of the Executive Magistrate of Chittagong Md Samsuzzaman who said the papers are fake.He also said the rice of food department cannot be stored in any private warehouse. Nobody can either sale or store the rice, he added.
Rajib Kumar Dey, inspector of food, Pahartali, who was also present at the spot said if the owners can show proper documents that they have bought the rice of food for work programme then they will be relieved.
In Bogra, Rab seized 1,250 bags of rice meant for OMS and VGD from a warehouse of a rice mill at Peergachha under Gabtoli upazila. A mobile court also jailed Emran Hossain Nahid, 26, son of the mill owner Abdul Khaleq, on charge of assisting in illegal hoarding and sale of rice outside of the public food distribution system. Nahid's father Khaleq and maternal uncle Jalaluddin Akhand escaped the scene sensing the raid, said Rab-12 commander Major Mostafa Asad Iqbal who led the team that raided the warehouse around 2:30am and seized 71 metric tonnes of government rice imported from Vietnam.
Gabtoli upazila food officer Mizanur Rahman filed a case with Gabtoli Police Station against Khaleq and Akhand under special powers act. Nahid, however, claimed during primary interrogation that his maternal uncle Akhand used to keep the rice in their warehouse and denied his and his father's involvement in it.Mizanur Rahman said the accused accumulated the rice worth Tk 17 lakh from various areas of the district for illegal sale in the market.
http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=183269
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