A pickup carrying hilsa has been robbed in Muradnagar, Cumilla. The driver and the fish trader were beaten, bound hand and foot, gagged and left by the roadside, and the robbers made off with the pickup, about Tk 9.5 lakh worth of hilsa and Tk 71,000 in cash.

A case has been filed against 12 unnamed people, but three days after the incident police have not arrested anyone.

According to police sources, Belal Hossain, a fish trader from Lakshmipur Sadar, buys hilsa from the wholesale fish market at the old Fishery Ghat area under Kotwali police station in Chattogram and supplies it to various markets in Cumilla. On Tuesday night, 1 September, he was carrying a pickup load of hilsa with the driver and a helper. At about 12:30am, when they reached Niamatpur in Kamalla union of Muradnagar on the Muradnagar-Ramchandrapur road, a white pickup blocked their vehicle.

A gang of 10 to 12 people, brandishing sticks, machetes and local weapons, beat the driver and the trader and threatened to kill them. They then tied their hands and feet, gagged them, left them by the road and fled with the hilsa-laden pickup. Local people rescued them and they informed the police.

The case statement says the robbers took about Tk 9.5 lakh worth of hilsa from the pickup and Tk 71,000 that Belal Hossain was carrying.

Mohammad Anwar Hossain Chowdhury, officer-in-charge of Muradnagar police station, said police were working to arrest those involved in the robbery.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.