Sajek Correspondent, CHT News
Tuesday, June 16, 2026
Bangladesh Army soldiers have been accused of looting
crops and pond fish belonging to local indigenous residents in Bhuyochhari,
Sajek, Rangamati. After the news spread on social media, a group of soldiers
harassed Sneha Kumar Chakma, the karbari (village headman) of Bhuyochhari.
According to local residents, an 11-member army group
led by a soldier identified as Masum traveled from the Baghaihat Zone to
Bhuyochhari by engine boat on the morning of Tuesday, June 16, 2026. The
soldiers reportedly looted banana bunches and mangoes from an orchard belonging
to the village's cooperative society, along with roughly 10 kilograms of fish
from a pond.
The soldiers also loaded three ducks belonging to
Hirabo Chakma onto their boat, but left the birds behind after villagers
protested.
Masum's rank could not be confirmed. He previously
served at Machalong Camp and is currently stationed at the Baghaihat Zone.
Notably, a separate 40-member army group had visited
Bhuyochhari the day before and remained stationed at the local primary school
as of Tuesday. Villagers said members of that group joined the 11-member group
that arrived Tuesday and took part in the looting.
Karbari Sneha Kumar Chakma confronted Masum over the looting. "If you keep taking our crops and pond fish like this, how are we supposed to survive?" he reportedly told the commander.
Referring to a similar incident last April, before the
Boishabi festival, Chakma said: "At that time too, you cleaned out all the
fish from our cooperative's pond. You also ate up the papayas, coconuts,
bananas and vegetables from our garden."
Masum responded that he had been on leave in Bogura
last April and was unaware of what happened at the time, but said he would look
into the matter.
A village elder told CHT News that the soldiers'
presence in the school building was disrupting classes, and called for an end
to the looting of villagers' crops and fair compensation for goods already
taken.
According to the latest reports, after news of
Tuesday's looting spread on social media, a group of soldiers returned to see
Chakma in the afternoon, blamed him for the leak, and threatened him. "How
did others find out so fast, before we'd even left the pond after catching the
fish? How did this get onto social media? You're the one feeding everything to
the UPDF," the soldiers reportedly told him.
They then warned him that he would have to report to
the army camp. Chakma said he had no objection to going if required.
----------