Sylhet Bureau :
Six members of an expatriate family which Sunday morning had fled the mandatory quarantine for United Kingdom returnees in Sylhet were fined on their return after 12 hours. Three infant members of the family were not brought under the punishment, the police said.
Sylhet Metropolitan Police additional deputy commissioner BM Ashraf UllahTaher told that the district deputy commissioner and executive magistrate MdMejbahUddin fined the six people Tk 18,000.
The authorities concerned have already cancelled the agreement of sending travellers coming from abroad for the institutional quarantine to Britannia Hotel after the UK returnee family fled on Sunday, he said.
Abdul Malik, 46, and eight members of his family who had arrived in Sylhet from London on March 18 left the hotel at around 8:00am on Sunday, 4 days before the completion of the mandatory 7-day COVID-19 quarantine.
They returned to the hotel at around 8:30pm following instructions from the authorities concerned.
Malik said that the family went to his village home at Jakiganjupazila, 96 kilometres away from the city, by a rented microbus to visit his ailing father.
Sylhet police ADC Ashraf said that they were investigating whether there was any collusion between the family and a 4-member police team which had been on duty in front of the hotels main entrance when the family had gone out.
Strict steps would be taken against the police personnel if the investigation finds their negligence,Õ he said.
