RAB seizes 255 tonnes of OMS rice, flour from black market

The Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) has confiscated 215 tonnes of rice and flour, which it says were illegally sold in the black market from a government warehouse, in drives in Dhaka.

The raids were conducted on the government warehouse at Tejgaon, Mohammadpur Krishi Market and Kakrail and Karwan Bazar on Saturday and Sunday.

The government kept the consignments for sale on trucks to the low-income people in the capital through the Open-Market Sale (OMS) programme, RAB Executive Magistrate Sarwoer Alam said.

RAB members waited outside the government warehouse on Saturday night following a tip-off that some officials were selling the rice and flour in the black market, the magistrate said.

Four trucks were stopped at Tejgaon and another at Kakrail after those carrying the rice and flour were taken out of the warehouse, Sarwoer said. Three more trucks were stopped in front of the warehouse.

The trucks were hauling 115 tonnes of rice and flour out of Dhaka, according to the magistrate.

The elite force raided 11 shops at the Mohammadpur Krishi Market at around 3:00 am on Sunday and seized 100 tonnes of rice and flour packed in government sacks, he said.

The owners of the shops fled, but the RAB detained and handed to the authorities the manager and some other officials of the warehouse, he added, bdnews24 reported.

Sarwoer said they would file a report at the Anti-Corruption Commission and recommend legal action against those responsible for the sale of the rice and flour illegally from the government warehouse.