Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) detained four employees of the Food Department for attempting to smuggle 400 sacks of rice in Barisal on Monday morning.
RAB caught them red-handed while loading the sacks on a truck.
“They were planning to smuggle the rice from Barisal Local Supply Depot (LSD) to Fulbaria, Khulna,” said RAB Deputy Assistant Director Amjad Hossain.
He said the drive was conducted based on a tip-off.
The detained are Deputy Assistant Food Inspector Abdur Rahim, LSD security guards Md Shamsuddin and Md Arif, and the helper of the seized vehicle Md Kabir Khan.
The RAB DAD said the Barisal LSD go-down in-charge Abdullah Al Mamun had fled during the raid.
Kabir said rice trader Abdus Sattar had rented the truck to carry the rice to Khulna.
However, during an interrogation, other detainees claimed the rice was being loaded for supplying it to the Barisal Range Reserve Force (RRF) of police.
The district’s Regional Controller of Food Amzad Hossain acknowledged that 20 tonnes (400 sacks) of rice were scheduled to be shipped to Barisal RRF that morning, but the seized rice was being loaded with no legal documents.
However, when the RRF ration in-charge Monir Hossain went to Barisal LSD on Monday morning, he was informed by Abdullah that the supplies would be sent in the afternoon.
Disciplinary measures will be taken by senior authorities after the interrogation and investigation.
