Several packets of ration flour were recovered by the police from the vicinity of the Kakdwip New Road check post during an attempted smuggling yesterday.

A motorized van was intercepted and a person named Madhusudan Das was detained on charges of involvement in smuggling. He was later arrested. According to the police, Madhusudan is a resident of Vidyanagar in Kakdwip. Multiple charges have been filed against him. On Sunday, he was presented in the Kakdwip sub-divisional court, where the judge ordered four days of police custody. During his interrogation, a total of 4,050 packets of ration flour, each weighing 950 grams were seized from a warehouse in Swarupnagar, Kakdwip.

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SDPO (Kakdwip) Prosenjit Bandopadhyay said, “Police have started interrogating the detainee. We will soon arrest the main culprit involved in this case.” Sumit Gupta, district magistrate of South 24-Parganas, stated, “Police and the food and supplies department are investigating. We are gathering detailed information about the source of the government ration flour and identifying the dealers involved. The individuals connected to this incident will be duly punished.”

Bapi Halder, the khadya karmadhaksy (food representative) of the zilla parishad and MP of Mathurapur, said, “Smuggling ration goods is a crime. The police will conduct a proper investigation and take legal action against those involved in this incident.”

In another incident, the Bazaar Traders Association has been accused of cutting down government trees under the cover of darkness. The incident occurred last night along the road by the Bagjola canal in Sohanpur Bazar in Bhangar. BDO (Bhangar-II) Partha Bandyopadhyay said, “No administrative permission was taken for this. As soon as we received the complaint, the cutting was stopped.”

The incident has sparked anger in the area. Local residents have raised questions about how government trees are being cut down in the dead of night. They allege that the Sohanpur Bazar Traders Association is cutting down trees at will during the night and selling them off.

Local residents Khairul Molla and Akbar Molla said, “Government trees cannot be cut and sold like this. Administrative permission is required. But the traders association is cutting and selling trees at their discretion without informing anyone.” The Sohanpur Bazar Traders Association claimed that there was a dead Sirish tree beside the road. Branches from this tree frequently break and injure pedestrians. For this reason, they verbally informed the administration and were cutting the branches. The association explained that many people use that road during the day, so the branches were being trimmed at night.