Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) members arrested two people for illegally hoarding 14,000kg rice meant for poor people under the government’s Open Market Sale (OMS) programme in Khulna on Tuesday morning.
The arrestees are Nadim Ahmed, son of Hashem Sheikh from the district’s Sonadanga area and Rabiul Islam, son of Abul Khaleque from West Baniakhamar area.
Among the arrestees, Nadim is the owner of the warehouse where the rice was kept.
According to Rab, the elite force had kept some rice warehouses in the city’s Barmashil road area under their watch after receiving the information that some unscrupulous traders were selling the government’s OMS rice in the black market at high rates instead of selling to the poor at low rates.
“Nadim and Robiul were unloading the rice from government-sealed sacks and putting it inside some unmarked sacks when Rab caught them red-handed. During the drive, we recovered 100 sacks of 50kg rice and 390 sacks of 25kg rice from them. We’ve also lodged a complaint against them in this regard,” said Tahan Chakma, Senior Assistant Superintendent of Police (Senior ASP) of Rab-6 (Khulna).
Lt. Colonel Mohammad Moshtaque Ahmed, Director of Rab-6, said an investigation has started to find out how some rice traders are getting OMS rice and who are assisting them in this practice.
Source: United News of Bangladesh