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A mobile court in Pirgachha upazila of Rangpur on Wednesday seized a large quantity of counterfeit soybean oil, along with raw materials and equipment used to produce it, and sentenced a trader to one month in jail and fined him Tk 20,000.
The raid was conducted around 11am at the house of trader Mashiur Rahman, 40, son of Azizur Rahman, in Guabari Balapara village.
Mashiur runs a wholesale and retail grocery shop near the old bus stand in Pirgachha Bazar. Locals alleged that he had been producing and selling counterfeit soybean oil at a facility behind his shop for a long time.
Acting on a tip-off, Executive Magistrate and Assistant Commissioner (Land) Tarek Hasan Tahsin led the mobile court operation.
The court seized around 50–60 cartons of counterfeit soybean oil, along with oil-making materials, empty bottles, equipment and counterfeit labels, from three ground-floor rooms of the house.
The mobile court later sentenced Mashiur to one month of simple imprisonment and fined him Tk 20,000.
Some of the seized materials were destroyed by burning at the scene.
Tarek Hasan Tahsin said the accused was punished for producing and marketing counterfeit soybean oil, adding that such drives would continue in the public interest and to protect consumers.
