Arrest warrants have been issued against former lawmaker Abdur Rahman Bodi and 18 hotel owners of St Martin's Island.

Senior Judicial Magistrate Asad Uddin Md Asif issued the warrants yesterday after taking into cognisance a charge sheet submitted by the Department of Environment (DoE).

Ashik Elahi Shahjahan Nuri, administrative officer of the Cox's Bazar Chief Judicial Magistrate's Court, confirmed the development.

He said the charge sheet was submitted on March 13 and the hearing was held yesterday, after which the court ordered the arrests of 19 accused.

According to the charge sheet, the accused include former Awami League (AL) MP and owner of Sunrise Resort Abdur Rahman Bodi, Md Ishaq, owner of Bangla Resort; Abu Zafar Prince, owner of Fantasy Hotel and Resort; Abdur Rahman and his brothers Abdul Malek and Abdur Rahim, owners of Sea Probal Beach Resort; Nazrul Islam Chowdhury, owner of Labiba Atlantic Resort; in-charge Amzad Hossain and manager Sulaiman Chowdhury; Md Ishaq, manager of Sunrise Resort, Zahid Hossain, owner of Royal Beach Resort; Abu Bakar Siddique, owner of Ruposhi Bangla Resort; its director Nizam Uddin Suman; Helal Uddin and his brother Sarwar Uddin Bhutto, owners of Nijhumbari Resort, Ferdous Ahmed Tushar, owner of Blue Rain Resort; Mostak Ahmed, Abu Sadat Lavlu, and Prof Abdur Rashid, owners of Dreamers Paradise Resort.

The case was initially filed on April 27, 2021 by the DoE against 10 resort owners for destroying habitats of endangered species on St Martin's Island by constructing and operating hotels in ecologically critical areas.

The case filed with Teknaf Police Station also accused them of extracting sand from beaches to fill lowlands, grabbing government land, and causing serious environmental damage by illegally constructing and operating hotels and resorts.

After a long investigation, the DoE submitted the charge sheet against 19 individuals, including 9 not named in the original case. 

After the AL was ousted on August 5, Bodi was arrested by the Rapid Action Battalion from Chattogram's GEC area on August 20 in a case over vandalism and looting of Teknaf BNP leader Mohammad Abdullah's businesses." 

He is currently in Kasimpur High Security Central Jail in Gazipur.