Reserve forest: Bid to stop soil theft costs forest officer his life

A dumper truck carrying stolen earth from a reserve forest crushed a forest officer to death in Cox's Bazar early yesterday when the official tried to stop the vehicle.

Sazzaduzzaman, 30, of Munshiganj's Gajaria upazila, was a beat officer of Dochhari Forest Beat of Ukhiya range under Cox's Bazar South Forest Division.

Forest guard Mohammad Ali, who was also injured in the incident, was undergoing treatment at the Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital.

Sazzad and Ali went to Harinmara reserve forest in Ukhiya on a motorcycle around 3:00am. The earth was being taken away from a hill in the forest, said Shamim Hossain, officer-in-charge of Ukhiya Police Station, quoting forest officials.

The two signalled the truck to stop. Instead of stopping, the vehicle crushed them and sped away, said the OC.

Sazzad died on the spot, he added.

Gazi Shafiul Alam, officer of Ukhiya range forest department, said the body of Sazzad was sent to the Cox's Bazar Sadar Hospital morgue for an autopsy.

Police seized the truck in the evening, he said.

"We have identified four to five people involved in the smuggling," he told The Daily Star.

The process of filing a case was underway.

Sarwar Alam, divisional officer of Cox's Bazar South Forest Division, who visited the spot, said, "Sajjad gave his life to protect the forest. We have lost an efficient and hardworking forest officer."

Meanwhile, a group of civil society members, in a joint statement, demanded exemplary punishment of the perpetrators involved in the killing of the forest officer and destroying the forest.

The signatories to the statement include eminent rights activists Sultana Kamal, Nijera Kori Coordinator Khushi Kabir, Transparency International Bangladesh Executive Director Iftekharuzzaman, Association for Land Reform and Development Executive Director Shamsul Huda, and Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association Chief Executive Syeda Rizwana Hasan.