Upazila administration and police in Tangail’s Madhupur have recovered nearly a tonne (1,000 kilograms) of government textbooks meant for free distribution among students. A scrap dealer named Ibrahim Hossain was detained on suspicion of smuggling the books.
It is learned that the ninth- and tenth-grade books were recovered from the dealer’s home in the upazila’s Narkona village on Wednesday evening. Local sources say strong outrage has arisen over how these free-distribution books, instead of reaching students, ended up at a scrap dealer’s house. Locals allege the books were being illegally bought and smuggled out from the upazila secondary education office’s storage depot. On receiving the information, the administration conducted a raid and detained Ibrahim along with a large quantity of the books.
Madhupur upazila secondary education officer Babul Hasan confirmed the incident, saying legal proceedings over the smuggling of government books are under way and a regular case is being filed. Meanwhile, aware residents in the area have demanded an impartial investigation to determine who was involved in taking these government-funded books out of the storage depot, and exemplary punishment for those responsible.