Huge fruits laced with toxic chemicals destroyed on second day
Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) destroyed huge fruits laced with toxic chemicals in 12 hours till 8am on Friday as it continued the drive against chemical-tainted fruits.
During the special from 8pm on Thursday to 8am on Friday, law enforcers destroyed some 3,000 maunds of mango, 800 maunds of blackberry, six lakh pieces of litchi, 1.5 mounds of karamcha, 3.5 maunds of Malta and 350 maunds of mango pulps.
An amount of Tk 1.40 lakh was realised in fine and 21 cases were filed in connection with the treating of fruits with formalin.
The DMP started the drive against the chemical-tainted fruits on Wednesday night.
The DMP set up check posts at eight entry points –– Postagola Bridge point, Signboard on Dhaka-Chittagong road, Sultana Kamal Bridge of Demra, Babu Bazar Bridge, Waizghat of Sadarghat, in front of Parbata Cinema Hall of Gabtali, near Tongi Bridge of Abdullahpur and Dhaur Bridge of Mirpur Embankment –– to check all vehicles carrying fruits, especially mangoes and litchis.
Briefing reporters at the DMP media centre on Friday, Joint Commissioner (Detective Branch) Monirul Islam said some 1,286 trucks entered the city through the eight check posts during the drive.
Of them, 313 were carrying various fruits, including mango, blackberry, litchi, jackfruit, date, banana, pineapple, Malta and apple, he said.
After testing the fruits, 7ppm (parts per million) formalin was found in litchi, 2ppm in mango, 134.38ppm in pulp, 5.07ppm in blackberry and 143.94ppm formalin in papaya was found. The tolerable level of formalin for human being is 0.15ppm.
Joint Commissioner (Crime and Ops) Meer Rezaul Alam and Deputy Commissioner (Media and Public Relations) Masudur Rahman were present during the press briefing.
Source: Bd news24