5 arrested over white stone theft in Sylhet

Police have detained five individuals over the theft of stones from the Bholaganj White Stone tourist area in Companiganj of Sylhet.

Around midnight on Friday, Companiganj police carried out a special operation to apprehend the suspects. The Officer-in-Charge (OC) of the police station, Uzair Al Mahmud Adnan, confirmed the incident, though the identities of those arrested have not been revealed.

Earlier on Friday, Anwarul Habib, Director General (Joint Secretary) of the Mineral Resources Development Bureau (BMD), filed a case at Companyganj police station, naming nearly 1,500 to 2,000 unknown individuals as suspects.

Notably, since August 5 last year, the Bholaganj White Stone area along the Dhalai River has experienced repeated incidents of stone theft. In the past two weeks alone, stones worth crores of taka have been illegally taken. Consequently, a special operation led by the district administration began on the night of Thursday (August 14) and remains ongoing.

Since the operation began, approximately 100,000 cubic feet of stones have been recovered. The administration has confirmed that the recovered stones are being returned to the Dhulai River.