Former DOAE officer detained over hoarding 512 litres of soybean oil

The police have detained a former officer of the Department of Agriculture Extension (DOAE) over hoarding 512 litres of soybean oil at his home in the capital.

A group of policemen from Mohammadpur Police Station detained the accused, former deputy assistant agriculture officer of DOAE Md Layekuzzaman, from his home in the capital's Lalmatia area on Friday night, said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Tejgaon Zone) Biplab Kumar Sarker at a press briefing on Saturday.

"Stocking 512 litres of soybean oil at an individual level is a criminal offence. He hoarded the oil for ill purposes – to make more profits and to create an artificial crisis in the market. A criminal case has been filed against him," said Biplab Kumar.

During the primary interrogation, Layekuzzaman confessed that he started to stock soybean oil on 6 March and accumulated 512 litres of oil from different places in the last six days. Of this, he collected 40 litres of oil from one place. He will be further interrogated to know from where he bought the oil, the police officer said during the briefing.

The police will seek a seven-day remand for a more detailed investigation to determine if he was involved in such crimes in the past, he added.