Illegal Sand Mining Triggers Fatal Violence Along Padma

A series of violent territorial clashes driven by the illegal extraction of river sand from the Padma riverbanks has resulted in seven fatalities over the past nine months. The unregulated trade, worth millions of Bangladeshi Taka, spans across a vast network of riverine islands (chars) connecting four districts: Natore (Lalpur), Rajshahi (Bagha), Pabna (Ishwardi), and Kushtia (Daulatpur). Criminal factions heavily arm themselves to capture and maintain authority over these lucrative sand segments.

The latest casualty occurred on Tuesday, 16 June 2026, when police recovered the bullet-ridden body of 45-year-old Sahabul Islam from a drifting boat in the Raita Char area under Lalpur Upazila. The deceased was identified as the son of Yunus Pramanik, a resident of Sara Gopalpur village in Ishwardi Upazila, Pabna. According to Shafiqul Islam, the Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Lalpur Police Station, unidentified gunmen positioned along the riverbank fired indiscriminately during the early hours of Tuesday, killing Islam on the spot and wounding a local fisherman, who was subsequently admitted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital.

Local farmers from Raita Char, speaking anonymously, stated that tensions peaked following another incident on 9 June, when the body of a young man was discovered inside a floating speedboat in the Char Jazira area. Out of the seven homicides recorded since October 2025, four took place during the first six months of 2026, whilst three occurred between October and November 2025. Local reports attribute the casualties to continuous friction between the armed factions, particularly the notorious Kakon gang and its rival groups.

Analysis of Criminal Infrastructure and Law Enforcement Data

Police records list 11 active gangs operating within the region, including the Kakon, Mandal, Tuku, Sayeed, Lalchand, Rakhi, Sharif Kaigi, Razzak, Challish, Bahania, and Sukchand-Naharul syndicates.

Following a homicide on 18 May 2026, law enforcement agencies conducted a special joint operation across the Padma char areas in Natore, Rajshahi, Pabna, and Kushtia. A subsequent raid on 17 July at a hideout operated by the Kakon gang at the Diar Bahadur Molla Traders sand extraction site yielded significant discoveries. Bagha Police Station’s Officer-in-Charge, Serajul Haque, confirmed that under “Operation First Light,” multiple raids led to the arrest of 203 individuals alongside the seizure of illegal armaments.

Detailed operational seizures and casualties are outlined in the tables below:

Table 1: Inventory of Seized Assets from Law Enforcement Operations

Table 2: Timeline of Fatalities Along the Padma Char (Oct 2025 – June 2026)

Historical Evolution of the Factions

The dominance over the sand extraction markets dates back nearly twenty years, beginning with the emergence of two prominent armed groups: the Panna gang and the Kakon gang. Historic media archives indicate that earlier confrontations between these two syndicates resulted in at least 41 deaths. The Panna gang collapsed following the death of its chief, Panna, in an exchange of fire with law enforcement in April 2005. Shortly thereafter, 25 members from both groups, including a rival leader named Lalchand, died in subsequent encounters with security forces.

The leader of the remaining prominent faction is Mohammad Hasanuzzaman Kakon, also known as Engineer Kakon. Originally from Mazdiar village in the Maricha Union of Kushtia’s Daulatpur Upazila, his family relocated to Ishwardi Upazila in Pabna in 2001 following local murder allegations. Kakon migrated to Saudi Arabia in 2007 before returning a few years later to systematically re-establish control over the Padma sand markets under political patronage. Local residents have filed multiple cases against his organisation, citing allegations of forced sand looting, extortion, robbery, and land grabbing.

In response to the allegations, Kakon stated that the claims of extortion and murder are fabricated and politically motivated. He maintained that his maternal family historically owned 1,800 bighas of land along the riverbed, accounting for his family’s presence on newly emerged chars. He further counter-alleged that his associates have faced systemic harassment since 5 August, claiming that local police have refused to document his cross-filings. Khondokar Md. Shamim Hossain, the Additional DIG of the Rajshahi Range Police, stated that because the remote chars border India, the geography enables armed groups to illicitly import weapons and evade capture by crossing administrative lines, prompting coordinated cross-jurisdictional strategies between the Rajshahi and Khulna police divisions.