Editorial
Rotten wheat
Give exemplary punishment
With the seizure of 1.75 lakh sacks of rotten wheat imported by some big names in business our apprehension that a strong nexus of corrupt importers of food and foodgrains has been operating in the country with impunity has come true. The huge quantity of rotten, inedible foodgrains worth about Tk. 35 crore was seized by the joint forces on Wednesday from warehouses belonging to some influential importers based in Dhaka, Narayanganj and Chittagong. The manner in which the tip off led to successful arrest of some operatives, including some senior police officials of Fatullah Police Station only strengthens our conviction that this time the caretaker government and the law enforcing agencies intend to mean business. They have been prompt in responding to information and successfully finishing the operation with precision. The incident of confiscation of the inedible wheat and other food items is not a stray case. By all means, this is only the tip of an iceberg of corruption, deception and deceit in the imported food sector. The unscrupulous importers have been importing rotten wheat and other similar food items from abroad and marketing them after deceitful packaging. They paid little attention to the fact that the rotten food items were highly dangerous to human health. The malpractice has been going on for decades covering the tenure of all the past governments, but we have rarely heard of any big fish getting caught. The role of some corrupt political elements of the day also needs to be brought into focus to unearth the source of the power of these importers. We feel the powerful men behind the whole scam need to be fully exposed and given exemplary punishment so that the nexus can be totally destroyed once and for all. The government must go all out after the so-called businessmen who wear a mask of civility in the day and do such heinous acts at night. They are the enemies of the people and they should be dealt with accordingly.
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