Two held over illegal timber extraction from reserved forest in Chunarughat

Two men have been detained for allegedly cutting and attempting to smuggle timber from a reserved forest in Chunarughat upazila of Habiganj. Forest officials also seized 28 pieces of Akashmoni timber, measuring around 22 cubic feet, along with a tractor allegedly used to transport the wood.

The incident took place at around 3:00am on Monday (November 2) in the Dewatoli Camp area under Shahpur Beat of Raghunandan Range.

Acting on information and with assistance from local beneficiaries, a forest department team led by Ratindra Kishore Roy, beat officer of Shahpur Beat, conducted an operation and caught the two men red-handed while they were allegedly attempting to remove timber cut from the reserved forest.

The detainees were identified as Md Khokon Mia, 33, and Sumon Mia, 30, both residents of Shahpur area in Chunarughat. They were subsequently taken to the custody of the Raghunandan Range Office.

Speaking to Sylhet today News during a visit to the Habiganj District Forest Office in Chunarughat at around 1:15pm on Tuesday (November 3), Assistant Conservator of Forests Mahadi Hasan confirmed the incident.

He said the two men had allegedly cut Akashmoni trees inside the reserved forest and were attempting to smuggle the timber when forest officials detained them with the assistance of local beneficiaries.

He added that the necessary procedures for producing the detainees before the court had been completed, while proceedings to file a forest case were underway.

The seized 28 pieces of Akashmoni timber, measuring 22 cubic feet, and the tractor remain in forest department custody.