The much-talked-about farm – Sadeeq Agro Limited – at Mohammadpur in the capital is running illegally as it has no business permission.

Besides, it set up two farms – one in Satmasjid Road Housing Area and the other in Nabinagar Housing Area of Mohammadpur Beribadh – after grabbing a canal and government-acquired land.

According to the Revenue Department of the Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC), it has no trade licence for running a dairy farm.

According to them, the proprietor of the business, Mohammad Imran Hossain, also president of the Bangladesh Dairy Farmers Association, has two trade licences under Zone-5 of the DNCC but none is for the dairy farm.

Imran has a trade licence title “Sadeeq” which is for export, import and supply located at 7 No. Lohargate Nabinagar Housing and another licence for ‘Sadeeq Agro Business’ which is for operating an AC restaurant at the same address.

Wishing anonymity, an official of the DNCC Revenue Department on Thursday told the Daily Sun that there was no trade licence for Sadeeq Agro Limited under which they were running business in Mohammadpur Beribadh.

According to the DNCC Estate Department, Sadeeq Agro Limited grabbed around one bigha of land acquired by the city corporation at 7 No. Loargate and 10 decimals in the Satmasjid Road Housing Area.

Talking to the Daily Sun, Bangladesh Water Development Board Surveyor Tobibur Rahman said they and the city corporation own the land on the east and west sides of the Beribadh.

“On Thursday, the DNCC conducted a drive to reclaim their land. We also have our estimate of how much of our land is now under the grab of different individuals and businesses.”

On Thursday, DNCC Magistrates Mutakabbir Ahmed and Md Mahabub Hasan led a drive in the two areas.

During the drive at Satmasjid Road area, the DNCC mobile court bulldozed a sizable portion of Sadeeq Agro Limited where cows, goats and other animals were kept in several sheds as it was built after occupying a portion of the Ramchandrapur canal.

Abdul Alim Taluker who introduced himself as the younger brother of one Abdur Rashid Talukder who rented the space to Sadeeq Agro Limited said the company set up the farm on the land back in 2016 and still it was paying Tk25,000 as monthly rent.

He also said, “The space is ours but Sadeeq Agro constructed the establishment at their cost and they deducted the rent money from the cost every month.”

During a visit to the farm, it was seen that the farm structure exceeded a pillar demarcating the canal.

The company owned another farm built at 7 No. Lohargate after occupying around one bigha of city corporation land.

However, DNCC officials said nobody claimed the ownership of the land and lodged any protest during the eviction drive.

Talking to reporters at Mohammadpur, DNCC Zone-5 Executive Officer and Executive Magistrate Mutakabbir Ahmed said they reclaimed one bigha of land where cattle sheds were constructed.

He also said, “Now, we’ll check whether the company has any business permission and any ownership of land for rest parts of the farm. If there’re anomalies, we’ll take further action against them.”

The correspondent called Imran on his cell phone but he did not respond despite several attempts.

Sadeeq Agro Limited came to the limelight selling a goat for Tk12 lakh to a young son of former National Board of Revenue officer Matiur Rahman and selling a cow at Tk10 million to a businessman.

Earlier, the company was found involved in forgery over importing the Brahman breed of cow violating the import ban.

Sadeeq Agro used forged documents to dodge the government’s ban imposed in 2016 on the import of the Brahman cow, one of the cattle breeds meant for the meat industry, after Bangladesh attained self-sufficiency in meat production.

In 2021, 18 Brahman cows were flown in from the United States amid pandemic restrictions at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport.

Importer Sadeeq Agro Limited used fake livestock ministry documents for this import in line with previous illegal imports.

American-breed cattle of Indian origin, Brahman had found its place at its farm in Mohammadpur’s Beribadh.

The importer or its agent did not even submit to the customs authorities the bill of entry, a mandatory legal document on or before the arrival of a consignment.