News Desk :
Police have arrested a government official and seized 512 litres of cooking oil from his possession in Dhaka’s Mohammadpur.
The official, who has been on his pre-retirement leave, illegally stockpiled the soybean oil at his house to sell at a higher price ahead of Ramadan, the law enforcers said on Saturday, reports bdnews24.com
The arrestee has been identified as Layekuzzaman, a deputy assistant agriculture officer. Police have started a case against him under Section 15 (1) of the Special Powers Act at Mohammadpur Police Station.
Section 15 (1) of the Special Powers Act says an offender involved in hoarding or black-market sales can be punished with the death sentence, life imprisonment and a jail term of up to 14 years plus fines.
“Layekuzzaman lives in Lalmatia and looks after his in-law’s house at Kazi Nazrul Islam Road in Mohammadpur. A police team, led by Mohammadpur police Sub-Inspector Monir Hossian, discovered the oil in a flat at his in-law’s house on Friday,” said Biplob Kumar Sarkar, deputy commissioner (Tejgaon division) of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, during a press conference.
Police went to Surya Enterprises at Mohammadpur Krishi Market after Layekuzzaman showed them a receipt indicating he had bought the oil from the store. The store owner said the official bought 40 litres of cooking oil at Tk 6,360 a few days ago.
“Layekuzzaman added the rest of the oil on the receipt afterwards,” police said, citing the store owner.
The authorities have yet to determine where he got the rest of the oil.
“Layekuzzaman is not a trader. He committed a criminal offence by personally hoarding oil. He took advantage of the crisis in the market,” Sarkar said, adding that a remand order will be sought for him.
