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 of Guabari Balapara village in the upazila.
Mashiur runs a wholesale and retail grocery shop in the old bus stand area of Pirgachha Bazar.
According to locals, he had allegedly been producing and marketing counterfeit soybean oil at his house 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.
During the raid, around 50-60 cartons of counterfeit soybean oil, oil-making materials, empty bottles, equipment and fake labels were seized from three rooms on the ground floor of the house.
The mobile court subsequently sentenced Mashiur to one month of simple imprisonment and fined him Tk 20,000.
Some of the seized materials were later destroyed by burning at the scene.
Tarek Hasan Tahsin said the accused was sentenced to imprisonment and fined, adding that such drives would continue in the public interest and to protect consumers.