Influential and politically connected traders are illegally dredging the Dhaleshwari in Tangail and locals fear this could result in losing their properties to river erosion.

Up to 17 times a day tractor driver Nabir Hossain from Kulaaghat village in Lalmonirhat sadar upazila carts a trailer-load of sand away from the Darla riverbed. “Each trailer load sells for up to Tk. 1,400 on the mainland,” he says. Like Hossain many locals earn their keep

Police arrest another person for his alleged link to the killing of four schoolboys, who had gone missing from Sundrateki village in Bahubal upazila on February 12.