United News of Bangladesh

A gang of thieves disabled CCTV cameras and stole high-value medicines worth an estimated Tk 25 lakh to Tk 30 lakh from a pharmacy in Barhatta upazila town of Netrokona on Friday night. A written complaint was lodged with Barhatta Police Station on Saturday afternoon following the incident at 'Barhatta Medical Hall' located at Hospital More in the upazila town. According to the complaint, Utphal, an employee of the pharmacy, locked the shop around 10:30 p.m. Friday. On Saturday morning, another employee, Joy, arrived to open the shop and found the lock on one of the shutters open. Upon entering, he discovered that almost all expensive medicines were missing, leaving behind only some basic syrups. CCTV footage reviewed prior to the cameras being destroyed showed masked individuals carrying sacks entering the shop at around 2:30 a.m.. Complainant Md. Iftekhar Tanvir Khan said, "Thieves took almost all the expensive medicines from the pharmacy, worth around Tk 25 lakh to Tk 30 lakh. This happened despite having CCTV cameras installed."   Champak Dham, Barhatta Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC), said police visited the scene and collected the available CCTV footage. "Efforts are underway to analyze the footage and identify those involved," the OC added.

Indian Border Security Force (BSF) personnel rescued 10 Bangladeshi nationals after a boat carrying 12 passengers capsized in the Padma River in Chapainawabganj Sadar upazila on Saturday afternoon. One passenger managed to swim back to Bangladeshi territory, while another remains missing. Police and locals said the boat carrying 12 passengers departed from Bakherali Ghat for Johurpurtek at around 5 p.m. Approximately 20 minutes into the journey, the vessel overturned due to strong winds and intense river currents. Patrolling BSF members from Khandua BSF Camp rescued 10 passengers from the river and took them into Indian territory. One passenger, identified as Wasim, 25, managed to swim ashore to Bangladesh, while a man named Mostafa remains missing. The identities of the 10 rescued Bangladeshis have not yet been confirmed. Upon receiving the news, police and Fire Service personnel dispatched teams to the scene.   Meanwhile, BSF officially notified Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) regarding the rescue of the 10 Bangladeshi nationals. Lieutenant Colonel Kazi Mustafizur Rahman, commanding officer of 53 BGB Battalion, said   "Process is currently underway to bring the 10 rescued Bangladeshis back to Bangladesh. Efforts to trace the missing Mostafa are currently ongoing."

The bodies of three people who went missing on Friday while bathing in the Shitalakshya River in Shibpur upazila were recovered on Saturday, while a fourth person remains missing. The deceased were identified as Md Obaidullah, 38, of Bhangal village in Kaliganj upazila of Gazipur; his sister-in-law Shanta, 16; and Sourav, 20, son of Majnu Miah of Char-Lakhpur village in Shibpur. The missing person is Md Shanto, 24, son of Jewel Miah, from Tangail. They tragic incident occurred on Friday afternoon in the Shitalakshya River near Lakhpur village under Dulalpur Union. According to the local residents, Obaidullah had gone to his father-in-law Mojibur Sheikh's home in Char-Lakhpur with his wife and child. Around 3pm on Friday, Shanta entered the river to bathe and was swept away by the strong current. Obaidullah, her eldest sister's husband, and Shanto, her sister's son, entered the river in an attempt to rescue her but were also swept away. Several locals subsequently joined the search. Sourav, a neighbour's son, also entered the river but was swept away. Later, the Fire Service was informed and began a search operation. The search continued until around 10pm but was suspended for the night after the missing persons could not be located. A diving team from Bhairab resumed the search on Saturday morning. After a prolonged operation amid strong currents, divers recovered Sourav's body around 8am from a location some distance from the incident site. Obaidullah's body was recovered around 9am. Shanta's body was later found in the Shaoraid area of Palash upazila, around 12 kilometres from where the incident occurred. Islam Khan, a leader of the Shibpur Fire Service, said divers had recovered three bodies from the river and that the search for the remaining missing person is continuing. Mohammad Kohinur Mia, officer-in-charge of Shibpur Model Police Station, said efforts to locate Shanto are still underway.

The water level of the Padma River in Daulatpur upazila has continued to rise, leaving around 60,000 people stranded in 35 villages in the char areas of Ramkrishnapur and Chilmari unions. The river rose by 3 centimetres in the past 24 hours and was flowing just 75 centimetres below the danger level at the Hardinge Bridge point on Saturday morning. According to the Hydrology Division of the Pabna Water Development Board (PWDB), the water level was recorded at 13.05 metres at 9:00am on Saturday, against the danger level of 13.80 metres. It was 13.02 metres at the same time on Friday. The water level had been rising by around 10 to 12 centimetres a day over the past week. However, the rate of increase slowed considerably in the past 24 hours. Ilias Hossain, executive engineer of the PWDB Hydrology Division, said the rise was caused by heavy rainfall and an influx of upstream water. “However, the rate of increase slowed to 3 centimetres in the last 24 hours. It is too early to say whether the water level will continue to rise,” he said. Floodwaters have inundated large areas of Ramkrishnapur and Chilmari unions, as well as low-lying char areas of Philipnagar Union, disrupting road communication. Abdul Mannan, Chairman of Chilmari Union Parishad, said 17 of the union’s 19 villages have been flooded, leaving around 30,000 people stranded. He said the situation on Saturday was slightly better than during the previous two or three days as the rate of water-level rise had slowed. Ramkrishnapur Union Parishad Chairman Siraj Mondal said all 16 villages in the union were surrounded by floodwater, with roads submerged and boats and makeshift rafts becoming the only means of transport. More than 30,000 people are stranded in the union, he said. Upazila Agriculture Officer Rehena Parveen said around 351 hectares of farmland in Chilmari, Ramkrishnapur, Philipnagar and Moricha unions have already been submerged. Chilli and banana growers have suffered the heaviest losses, she said, warning that the damage could increase if the water level continues to rise. Meanwhile, classes have been suspended at 25 government primary schools and three secondary schools in the char areas due to the flooding. Administrative activities at the institutions, however, remain operational, according to the Upazila Education Office. The flooding has also submerged cooking areas and tube wells, causing shortages of food and safe drinking water. Farmers and livestock owners are struggling to protect and feed their animals. Abu Biswas, 65, of Ramkrishnapur, said floodwater had risen to waist level inside his home. “Other members of my family have moved to higher ground. I am somehow staying on a makeshift raised platform,” he said. Julekha Khatun of Char Sonatala said floodwater was flowing through her home after the road collapsed. “Cooking has stopped. I am struggling to arrange meals for my family,” she said. Shymol Mondal said five bighas of his chilli crop had gone underwater. “Movement has become extremely difficult. The elderly members of my family are confined indoors, and we are having to make one meal last for three sittings. We are also very afraid of snakes,” he said. Locals said the presence of venomous snakes has increased in the flooded char areas, raising concerns over public safety. They have called for urgent supplies of dry food and safe drinking water, as well as the deployment of mobile medical teams. Dr Touhidul Hasan Tuhin, upazila health and family planning officer, said the Upazila Health Complex has sufficient stocks of anti-venom. “We are advising people not to waste time going to traditional healers after a snake bite. They should take the patient to hospital immediately,” he said.

Police on Friday evening recovered the hanging body of senior journalist Pulak Chatterjee from the Barishal bureau office of Daily Samakal on Parara Road in Barishal city. He was 57.   Chatterjee, a former general secretary of the Barishal Press Club, served for a long time as the bureau chief for Daily Jugantor and Daily Samakal. He leaves behind his wife and a daughter. Suman Chowdhury, current office head of Daily Samakal in Barishal, said Chatterjee's wife contacted him on Friday evening after failing to reach her husband by phone. Chowdhury went to the office and found the main entrance locked from the inside. Looking through a gap in the door, he spotted Chatterjee hanging inside and immediately alerted the police. Police broke open the door, recovered the body and sent it to the Sher-e-Bangla Medical College (SBMC) Hospital morgue for an autopsy. Al Mamun Ul Islam, Kotwali Model Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC), said the exact cause of death will be confirmed after receiving the autopsy report.

Members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) have arrested two alleged members of an online gambling ring while they were playing online gambling inside a hair salon in the Gokarnaghat area of Brahmanbaria municipality. The arrestees were identified as Md Joy, 22, and Md Salam Mia, 35, both from Gokarnaghat Dakkhipara. The arrests were made late Thursday night following a tip-off, said a RAB-9 press release issued to the media on Friday. According to a press release signed by RAB-9 Sylhet office Media Officer and Additional Superintendent of Police KM Shahidul Islam Sohag, an operational team of CPC-1 Brahmanbaria conducted a raid at Digital Hair Cutting Salon near the Three-Road Junction in Gokarnaghat Dakshinpara. The team arrested Joy and Salam while they were allegedly engaged in online gambling. A mobile phone allegedly used for gambling was also recovered from them, the release said. During preliminary interrogation, the two told RAB that they had been playing online gambling while sitting inside the salon. RAB said an examination of the recovered mobile phone found various evidence of online gambling. A case was filed against the two under the Gambling Prevention Act with Sadar Model Police Station, and they were later handed over to police.

Three children, including two siblings, drowned in rainwater accumulated in a field beside their homes at Dashpara village in Pabna Sadar upazila on Friday afternoon. The deceased were identified as Khalid Hossain, 8, and his sister Afia Khatun, 6, children of Ashraful Islam, and Sumi Khatun, 7, daughter of Shimul Mallik, of the village. All three were students of a local kindergarten school. According to locals, Sumi, Khalid and Afia went to bathe in rainwater accumulated in a field beside their homes. At one point, one of the children began drowning after entering deeper water around 2:00pm. The other two also went under while trying to rescue the child. When the children did not return for some time, family members and locals launched a search and rescue operation. They were eventually rescued, but all three died on the way to hospital, locals said. Tariqul Islam, officer-in-charge of Pabna Sadar Police Station, said police were sent to the spot.

Two motorcycle riders were killed and another was critically injured in separate road accidents in Gournadi upazila of Barishal on Friday. Arafat Rahman Babu, 32, was killed and his pillion rider Asadul Islam, 31, was critically injured when a bus crashed into their bike in front of Sharmin Clinic in South Bijoypur around 10:30am. Babu, a father of two, was a resident of Ashokathi village and the foster son of retired teacher Md Hanif Akon, who currently lives in Mahilara. Asadul is also from Ashokathi village Following the accident, locals rescued them and took them to a nearby upazila health complex, where doctors declared Babu dead. Asadul was later shifted to Sher-e-Bangla Medical College Hospital in critical condition. In another accident, Mehedi Hasan Turag, 32, was killed in the Kataksthal area around 2:30am. Turag was the son of deceased Abdul Gani Howlader of Rajkar area under Rahmatpur union of Babuganj upazila. According to Turag’s friend Tarikul Islam, four friends were travelling from Dhaka to their village home in Babuganj on two motorcycles. When they reached Kataksthal, Turag lost control of his motorcycle and the bike then collided with a speeding truck coming from the opposite direction, leading to the accident.  

Sixteen spillway gates of the Karnaphuli Hydroelectric Power Station damp in Kaptai were reopened on Friday morning as the water level of Kaptai Lake rose, with water being released as a precautionary measure. The gates were opened by six inches each from 8:00am, according to the plant authorities. The lake’s water level stood at 105.51 feet above mean sea level (MSL). Plant Manager Engineer Mahmood Hasan confirmed the matter, saying the 16 gates were opened by six inches each to release excess water, amid concerns over rising water levels and possible erosion in different areas of Rangamati. “About 9,000 cusecs of water is being released through the gates. The gates will be closed again when the water level stabilises at 105 feet,” he said. Earlier, on August 29, the lake’s water level reached 106.01 feet MSL, prompting the authorities to open the 16 spillway gates by six inches each. The gates were subsequently opened further in phases as the water level continued to rise. At one stage, each gate was opened by up to three feet, resulting in the release of around 58,000 cusecs of water. The gates were later closed as the water level receded. They were reopened on Friday morning after the lake’s water level started rising again. The authorities said the maximum water-holding level of Kaptai Lake is 109 feet MSL, and the current water release is being carried out as a precautionary measure. Meanwhile, the lake water is being used to generate 222 megawatts of electricity through five units of the power plant.

At least eight passengers were injured when a Dhaka-bound bus fell into a roadside ditch and overturned in Chandina upazila of Cumilla on Friday morning. Police, citing locals, said the “Evergreen” bus left Cox's Bazar for Dhaka with 25 passengers on board. When the bus reached the Kurerpar area of Kerankhal union in Chandina on the Dhaka-Chattogram Highway around 7:00am, its brakes reportedly failed. This caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle, which fell into a roadside ditch and overturned. Locals rushed to the scene and took the injured to Chandina Upazila Health Complex for treatment. Mashrafi, the bus supervisor, said one of the bus tyres was deflated in Satkania of Chattogram and was replaced before the vehicle resumed journey. "The accident occurred near Kurerpar after the brakes suddenly failed. There were 25 passengers on the bus," he said. Md Ashraf Uddin, sub-inspector of Eliotganj Highway Police outpost, said the passengers were not seriously injured and left the hospital after receiving primary treatment. The bus was salvaged from the ditch around 12:30pm with the help of the Chandina Fire Service.