13 arrested for stealing goods of Padma bridge from sunken ship
13 arrested for stealing goods of Padma bridge from sunken ship
Police have found a ring stealing goods brought for the Padma Bridge from a ship that sank in the sea.
Chittagong Police Additional Superintendent of Police Kirtiman Chakma said that 13 members of the gang were arrested from the Karnafuli river near Shah Mirpur area of Chittagong on Monday morning and four tonnes of goods were recovered.
13 people were arrested – Sheikh Mohammad (26), Md. Akkas (40), Nurul Afsar (30), Mohammad Ali (48), Md. Rafiq (48), Md. Alamgir (32), Ayub Ali (55), Jebul Hossain (59), Khair Ahmed (30), Abdul Hamid (28), Sohrab Hossain (60) and Md. Arafat (25).
Kirtiman Chakma told bdnews24.com that the recovered goods were galvanizing iron angles, which were brought from abroad for use on the Padma Bridge.
A cargo ship named ‘Hang Gang-1’ loaded with iron angles sank on July 13 in the Kutir Char area of Sandwip Channel in the Bay of Bengal while being taken to the bridge project from Chittagong port.
The contractor was removing the goods from the sinking ship at different times.
About 45 percent of the goods were removed and their work was stopped for some time. But as they did not have a guard system there, some people from Chittagong and Mongla got together and started stealing goods from there.
Police officer Kirtiman said, “There are some divers in this cycle. Who collects goods from under water. They picked up the goods and brought them to Chittagong by boat. ”
A team of naval police took up position in the Karnafuli River in the Patenga area on Sunday night after receiving information that a gang was picking up goods from the sea and selling them in Chittagong. They spotted some people as they were loading on two engine-driven wooden boats and signaled them to stop. But the boat did not stop and tried to escape.
Police later chased them and arrested them from the river near Shah Mirpur Balupukur, Additional Superintendent of Police Kirtiman said.
He said the naval police was in the process of filing a case with the Karnafuli police station.
