Warehouse sealed off in Chittagong

Police seized a huge quantity of rotten wheat, expired fertiliser and other materials Wednesday afternoon from a private warehouse in the port city’s Majhirghat area.

Acting on a tip-off, police raided the warehouse and seized 2,000 sacks of rotten wheat, 750kg of expired magnesium sulphate, a sack of limestone and 15 rolls of galvanised sheets, said Pranab Chowdhury, officer-in-charge of Sadarghat police station.

Later, an inspection team of district officials, comprising of Faruk Ahammed, assistant commissioner and executive magistrate of Chittagong, and Shafayet Hossain, field officer of Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI), sealed off the warehouse after examining the goods inside, Pranab said.

Police lodged a case under the Special Power Act, and are investigating the reasons behind the storing of the rotten goods.

The magistrate said the wheat was totally rotten and unfit for consumption, even for animals, while the fertiliser had expired in August, 2010. 

The BSTI official confirmed that the wheat would likely cause poisoning if ingested.

Meanwhile, Md Zakir, caretaker of the warehouse which is owned by Selim Khalifa, said the wheat was brought in on Monday and Tuesday, while the fertiliser had been in storage for days. Zakir said he heard that the items were to be used as fish food.

The owner of the goods, Adnan Islam, proprietor of General Enterprise in the city’s Barek Building area, could not be contacted, even after repeated calls to his mobile phone as it was switched off.