Dhaka: A mobile court conducted a drive at Mohammadpur in Dhaka and sentenced nine owners and employees of four mineral water producing factories for different jail terms on charges of marketing bottled water illegally.

Sources at the RAB-2 headquarters said a mobile court, led by Executive Magistrate Helal Uddin, conducted the drive form 1:00pm to 3:30pm at four mineral water factories, namely Rajib Fresh Pure Drinking Water, Smart Food and Beverage, Reliable Drinking Water and Antar Drinking Water.

During the drive, the mobile court found that Smart Food and Beverage, Reliable Drinking Water and Antar Drinking Water factories had no legal approval for bottling and marketing water while Rajib Fresh Pure Drinking Water’s licence ran out months ago. Additional SP Shahab Uddin accompanied the team.

Besides, the factories were bottling water in an unhygienic environment and filling jars directly from WASA water supply lines without filtering, said ASP Khalid Md Borhan of RAB-2.

The mobile court seized 447 jars each with a capacity of 20 litres and six water pumps.

The mobile court sentenced Rajib Fresh Pure Drinking Water’s manager Mizanur Rahman and its employees: Shadat and Maruf of Tk One lakh each, in default, to spend 15 days jail, Smart Food and Beverage’s manager Mahbubur Rahman and Mostafa were given one month jail each, Reliable Drinking Water’s manager Shahadat Hossain and its employees Faisal and Imdadul to serve one month jail each and Antar Drinking water’s manager Delwar Hossain to six-month jail.