Sylhet, Aug 16 (V7N) – The army has recovered another 2.5 lakh cubic feet of white stone looted from Sylhet, raising the total recovered amount to about 4 lakh cubic feet. The raid was conducted in the Dhobagul area of the district on Saturday (August 16) morning.

Meanwhile, repair work has begun in Companiganj upazila, where the fire service and laborers appointed by the upazila administration are leveling holes caused by illegal stone extraction.

On Friday night, police arrested five individuals from the east bank of the Dhalai River in connection with the looting. Law enforcers claim the arrestees were directly involved in controlling the illegal extraction.

That same night, the Director General of the Bureau of Mineral Resources Development filed a case against 2,000 unidentified people, accusing them of illegally looting stones worth crores of taka from the Bholaganj stone quarry since August 5 last year. The case calls for identification of those involved and legal action against them.

According to environmental activists and local businessmen, an estimated 15 million cubic feet of stone were looted from Sylhet over the past year, with a market value exceeding two billion taka.

END/SMA/AJ