ABOUT 500 tonnes of rice were seized from the tiny border district town of Chuadanga in an anti-hoarding drive on Tuesday.
   Some of the hoarders were arrested but later set free and the rice released on condition that they would sell in the open market at Tk 26 per kilogram, said local joint forces commander Lieutenant Colonel Badrul Hasan.
   He said it was surprising that the hoarders were not all dealers in rice. Moneylenders, pesticide dealers, rod-cement dealers, grocers and jute traders hoarded the rice in secluded godowns. They have syndicated to create artificial crisis of rice.
   Coarse rice selling at Tk 30 to 31 kg came down by around Tk 3 kg immediately after the anti-hoarding drive.
   The joint forces forming five teams launched the drive at noon and seized the rice in 11,100 sacks. Following intelligence report they raided Baro Bazar, Puratan Bazar, Badurtala, Alokdia, Dingedaha and Sarajganj of the district headquarters.
   The rice seized included 300 sacks from the godown of moneylender Uma Prosad Agarwal, 25 tonnes from Madhu Mia, 110 tonnes by his brother Zahid Mia, 15 tonnes from pesticide godown of Ansar Ali, 2,943 sacks from Minto Mia and 250 sacks from Karim Mia.

PIRATES looted fish, fishing nets and valuables worth Tk 10 lakh in the Bay of Bengal near Kuakata sea beach in Patuakhali on Tuesday.
   The criminals also abducted a fisherman and demanded Tk 50 thousand as ransom.
   Alamgir, one of the fishermen, said a band of pirates numbering 20 to 25 attacked around 30 fishermen on three trawlers in the bay, about 5 kilometres off the Kuakata sea beach.
   The pirates threw all the fishermen except one into the sea and abducted him. He is Md Harun, 30. The criminals asked the fishermen to meet them with the ransom of Tk 50 thousand in Bhola.
   Md Fazlu Gazi, president of the Alipur-Mohipur Fish Warehouses Association, said they had rescued the 30 fishermen with the help of another fishing trawler.
   Incidents of piracy have increased in recent times, he said, adding, 30 fishing trawlers were looted in the last one week.

SIXTY-YEAR-OLD Rais Uddin came to the century-old traditional annual fish fair on the bank of Kushiyara at Sherpur in Moulvibazar with some exceptionally huge fish including local ‘bagha ayir’ weighing about 240kg.
   The fair, held about 22 kilometres from the district town, drew thousands of buyers from the Sylhet division and other districts as well.
   This year, Rais Uddin’s stall was an attraction for some exceptionally huge sized fish caught from the nearby rivers and adjacent haor areas. He demanded Tk 1,20,000 for his bagha ayir and finally sold the fish at Tk 90,000 to an expatriate. He caught the fish from the Kushiyara.
   Rais demanded Tk 35 thousand for a big sized boal and Tk 25 thousand for another ayir fish.
   He said he opened his fish stall in the fair with fish of Tk 12 lakh this year.
   Like Rais Uddin, many other fishermen including Modhu Miah, Arbesh Miah, Nurul Haque, Awal Miah, Mokbul Hussain Dewanjee, Md Mohsin, Mrinal Miah joined the fair from different districts with local varieties of sweet water fish of huge size.
   Big sized boal, ayir, chital, rohita, katla, kai and magur were of great attractions for the visitors, particularly youngsters who had never seen and could imagine the rich fish resources Bangladesh has.
   This year, the district administration auctioned the fair spot at Tk 7 lakh. Fishermen came to the fair with fish caught from the Monu, Kushiyara, Surma rivers and different haors and water bodies in Sylhet and Kishoreganj regions.
   Thousands of people from all walks of life attended the fish fair to purchase fish of their choice.
   The district administration took special measures to maintain law and order and not to allow anti-social activities like gambling at the fair.

THE Rapid Action Battalion recovered 992 sacks of urea, seized two trucks and arrested four persons on charge of selling the agri-input on black market in Jhenaidah on Monday night.
   Tipped off, a contingent of RAB seized two trucks loaded with the urea on the Jhenaidah-Kushtia Highway near Jhenaidah Cadet College.
   According to the confessional statement of truck labourers, the team raided two godowns at Chariarbazer and seized 400 sacks of the agri-input and arrested four persons. The arrested are Solaiman, Matiur Rahman, Shamim Ahmed and Kabir Uddin.
   RAB said Abdul Mannan and Saheb Ali, owners of the two godowns, had been involved in black marketing of urea and other chemical fertilisers in the district for the last few years. A case was filed.