4 forest staff rescued after kidnap
Published: September 16, 2003
Police rescued one forest official and three guards, a few hours after their kidnap by illegal loggers Sunday night in the hilly areas of Fatikchhari upazila, 58km north of the city.
They also arrested the alleged mastermind behind the abduction, Monu Mia, a local Union Parishad member. Police quizzed Monu Mia and began a hunt for the abductors.
The abduction was the tenth such incident in Chittagong in 52 days, since the kidnap of magnate Jamal Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury.
The paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) aided the police in the rescue operation.
The rescued are Deputy Ranger Jahiruddin Khan and guards Delwar Hossain, Akhter Hossain and Shahadat Hossain of Chittagong forest department.
Police said the incident occurred when a mobile team of the forest department, led by Deputy Forest Officer (DFO) Jafrul Hasan, was attacked by an armed gang of about 40 loggers at Harinmara point near Balukhali at around 7:00pm Sunday.
“We went to Fatikchhari forests on board a jeep and a pick-up to visit the plantations and gardens owned by our department. While we were visiting a roadside garden at Harinmara, the loggers attacked us and kidnapped four of our men and took away two rifles,” the DFO said.
“But, I and some other team members managed to escape.”
“They took the victims to the nearby deep forests under the cover of darkness,” the DFO said. ” I informed the local police about the incident. They raided the hideouts of the kidnappers in the jungle with support from the BDR and rescued two forest guards at around 10:00pm and two others including the deputy ranger at about 1:00am the same night,” the DFO added.
Police said the whole forest area was cordoned off during the raid at night and the victims were rescued along with the rifles.
The other kidnappers managed to melt away into the deep forests.
Police and forest officials said legal proceedings had earlier been initiated against some illegal loggers in the area.
Police believe Monu Mia organised the attack after the sudden drive by the mobile forest team angered the illegal loggers.
A case was filed with Fatikchhari Police Station.
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