A team of Bangladesh Army has conducted a drive against illegal sand extraction and sale in Jaldhaka, Nilphamari. On Wednesday night, 12 people, including the main mastermind of sand extraction and sale, were arrested red-handed while extracting sand from the Buri Teesta River adjacent to the left bank of the Golmunda Union Naddapara area of ​​the upazila. Among those arrested are Rezwanul Jannat, son of Mokleser Rahman of West Jaldhaka area, Sajjad Hossain Sabbir, son of Shah Alam Shahin of Shalongram, Balagram area, and Ripon Dulal, son of Jahangir Hossain of West Jaldhaka area. All the detainees are residents of different villages in Jaldhaka upazila of Nilphamari district. It is learnt that although the sand extracted from the Buritista River was leased from the left bank of Buritista in Golmunda upazila, Rezwanul Jannat, Sajjat ​​Hossain Sabbir and Ripon Dulal started illegally extracting sand from the main river in the area without paying attention to the rules and regulations. And even though the auctioned lot expired, they illegally extracted and sold the sand, which is threatening the surrounding agricultural land and creating a risk of river erosion, and the river protection dam built at a cost of crores of taka is in a bad condition. In such a situation, the army monitored through their various sources and quickly launched a raid. The sand extractors were caught red-handed in the raid. The detainees admitted their guilt. Later, they were released after being fined 1 lakh taka under Section 15 of the Sand and River Management Act 2010 and warned not to do such things in the future.

In this regard, Jaldhaka Upazila Assistant Commissioner (Land) Molla Iftekhar Ahmed said that even after the auctioned lot expired, sand extraction continued. They were arrested in the operation and a fine of Tk 1 lakh was collected after they confessed to the crime.