Smuggled fertiliser seized: 17 arrested

Members of the law enforcement agencies have suspected the smugglers might have been sending the fertiliser to Myanmar illegally through Hizla and Kalapara, two main transit points of smuggling.

When contacted, Hizla upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) Sanjoy Kumar Banik and Hizla Police Station officer-in-charge (OC) Mir Fasiar Rahman said that the team recovered 350 metric tons of fertiliser from MB Farhad and another unnamed engine boat at about 8 pm Tuesday.

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Earlier, Hizla-Gourabdi union chairman Abdul Gaffar Talukdar informed them about the boats anchored at Char Memania on the Meghna.Fourteen crew were arrested.

Our Patuakhali correspondent informed that a patrol team of Bangladesh Navy seized 80 tons of fertiliser from an engine boat on the Andhar Manik river Kalapatty point in Kalapara upazila Wednesday morning.

Three crew were arrested. Police took the trawlers into custody.