Some volunteers working for the administration have assaulted tourists who visited Sylhet’s popular hangout Jaflong on their Eid-Ul-Fitr break.
The incident occurred around 2:00 pm on Thursday over buying tickets at a tourist centre at Gowainghat Upazila, said the UNO Md Tahlimur Rahman.
Police have detained two who were allegedly involved in the ruckus, reports bdnews24.com.
“Not wanting to buy tickets to enter Jaflong, the group of tourists got into an argument with the team of volunteers at the counter. One of the volunteers assaulted the tourists at one point,” the UNO said.
Expressing regret over the incident, he said, “This greatly harms our tourism and as the assaulters were employed by me, I take responsibility for this. Three of them have already been sacked and I asked the local police to take legal action against them.”
Gowainghat Police OC KM Nazrul Islam said, “We’ve identified the volunteers, detained two. A video clip showed them violently beating [the tourists]. We’re also in pursuit of six-seven other people who were involved.”
The detained are Lakhsman Chandra Das, 21, from the Upazila’s Pannagram and Selim Ahmed, 20, from Islampur.
Jaflong tourist police arrived at the centre as soon as the news spread, the unit in-charge Md Ratan Sheikh said.
A recorded clip of the incident has gone viral on the internet.
It shows three young men wearing blue volunteer uniform hitting a group of tourists with sticks. Some female tourists who tried to get in the way were also harassed.