301 sacks of urea fertiliser seized in Mirsarai while being smuggled to Myanmar, 8 arrested

Police from Jorarganj station in Chattogram’s Mirsarai upazila have seized 301 sacks of urea fertiliser along with two drum trucks while the fertiliser was being smuggled to Myanmar by sea. Eight people have been arrested in total in the incident.

The fertiliser and the two trucks were seized in a raid early on Saturday (31 October) in the area of gate number 40 of the Muhuri Project in Ichhakhali union of the upazila, police said.

Jorarganj police station officer-in-charge (OC) Mohammad Abdul Halim confirmed the matter on Saturday afternoon.

Police said the operation began around midnight on Friday in the Sagarpar area of Ichhakhali union, acting on a tip-off. During the operation, four people were arrested from the Muhuri Project area of Ochmanpur union.

Later, at around 4:30am, police raided the gate number 40 area of the Muhuri Project and detained two drum trucks. Searching the trucks, they seized 301 sacks of urea fertiliser.

According to police, the estimated market value of the recovered fertiliser is 376,250 taka.

Based on information given by the first four arrestees, four more people were later arrested, taking the total number of arrests in the incident to eight.

OC Mohammad Abdul Halim said: “In a raid in the Muhuri Project area, eight people have been arrested along with 301 sacks of urea fertiliser while it was being smuggled to Myanmar. The arrested suspects are being interrogated over who is involved in the fertiliser smuggling. Legal action will be taken once the interrogation is complete.”

The OC also said the names of the eight arrestees could not be disclosed in the interest of the investigation.