Fake pesticide, fertiliser worth Tk 150cr seized

In a two-day mobile court drive, authorities unearthed a fake fertiliser and pesticide factory at Dhaka’s Keraniganj upazila, and seized counterfeit products worth Tk 150 crore.

A joint team of local administration, Department of Agricultural Extension and Bangladesh Crop Protection Association conducted the drive at Meghna Fertilizers Co Ltd. Huge quantities of fertilisers and pesticides, with packaging emulating top brands, were destroyed after being seized.

The drive, led by Iqbal Hasan, executive magistrate and assistant commissioner (land) in Keraniganj, began on Tuesday morning and continued till Wednesday night at the factory set up on around 2.5 acres of land in Alipur area.

Iqbal Hasan said that acting on a tip-off that the factory has been producing substandard products, authorities decided to conduct a mobile court drive.

“When we came to the factory on Tuesday morning, we found it locked from outside. Later, we entered by breaking the lock and found huge quantities of fertilisers and pesticides with packaging of top brands in the factory’s five warehouses,” he said.

The factory produced such products using soil and kerosene oil, and sold them in the market using packaging of companies like BADC and Syngenta, said the executive magistrate.

“We did not find any factory authorities during the drive, but we came to know that the owner’s name is Saidur Rahman Khan. He set up the factory and has been making fake products like this since 2017,” said Iqbal.

Asked whether any legal step was taken against the factory owner, the executive magistrate replied in the negative, but said after investigation, steps would be taken against the owner and people involved with the factory.

M Sayeduzzaman, chairperson of Bangladesh Crop Protection Association, who was present during the drive, said that for a long time, they were getting complaints of products of top brands not working properly. “We started monitoring the market, conducted an investigation, tracked the factory’s location, and informed higher authorities of Department of Agricultural Extension as well as the local administration.”

Fertilisers and pesticides are in high demand in the market, so the fake products caused extensive damage to the country’s farmers, said Sayeduzzaman, adding that strict action must be taken against the factory’s owners.

Mizanur Rahman Khan, vice president of Bangladesh Crop Protection Association, claimed that the owner of the factory’s land was a Deputy Inspector General-ranked police official, and Saidur used to run the establishment under his patronage.

He also claimed that two such drives were earlier conducted at the factory and legal steps were taken against Saidur, but he evaded the law.

Locals were reluctant to speak about the factory. They, however, assured that the land owner is a high-ranking police official. Contacted about it over phone last evening, Keraniganj Model Police Station officer-in-charge refused to discuss it over phone and asked this correspondent to visit the police station.

Anwar Hossain, chairman of Hazratpur Union Parishad under which the land falls, also said the high-ranked police official was the owner of the land, and that the factory owner did not take any trade license from him, as they were supposed to. “People like them do not need such documents,” he said in a resigned tone when contacted. 

Usually, the local agriculture office is supposed to monitor such factories, but the establishment has been running for four years right under the office’s nose.

Shahidul Amin, upazila agriculture officer of Keraniganj, who was present at the spot, said, “We had come to visit the factory a month back but found it empty. During lockdown, the factory produced huge quantities of fake fertilisers and pesticides.”