<p xss=removed>In August 2018, Sabiha Begum (not her real name) was approached by a group of locally influential men who wanted to buy her homestead.</p><p xss=removed>"They told me the government needed the land and that one way or another, they would get it. I was scared of the men and their threats, but I turned down the offer because this land is all I have. A few days later, they came in a bigger group and evicted me from my homestead," said Sabiha.</p><p xss=removed>They handed her just Tk 30,000 in cash though the market price of her</p><p xss=removed>four-decimal land would be approximately Tk 2 lakh.</p><p xss=removed>Had Sabiha sold the land directly to the government, she would be entitled to approximately Tk 6 lakh. Instead, the land now belonged to a syndicate of land grabbers, who just made a profit of Tk 5,70,000.</p><p xss=removed>In September 2018, land acquisition began in Sonapara village under Kalarmarchhara union of Moheshkhali for the Single Mooring Point Project being implemented by Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation, according to government documents.</p><p xss=removed>Forty acres of land were acquired there, leading to eviction of at least 400 poor families including Sabiha's. The estimated market value of this land is Tk 14 crore, and the land acquisition value is Tk 42 crore.</p><p xss=removed>Under the Acquisition and Requisition of Immovable Property Act, 2017, the government is supposed to pay three times the market value of land acquired in compensation for the owners.</p><p xss=removed>Like in Sonapara, the land acquisition process for 20 other big development projects in Cox's Bazar has given a nexus of district land officials, politicians, journalists and touts a golden opportunity to rake in a fortune.</p><p xss=removed>The clique managed to contain commotions and quell protests until one person got arrested by Rab with cash and diaries, which turned out to be the key to a Pandora's Box.</p><p xss=removed>Fajle Azim Md Sibgat Ullah, convener of a platform called "Jagroto Chhatra Samaj" formed to protest irregularities in the land acquisition, told The Daily Star that the syndicate forced people to sell off their land at lower rates.</p><p xss=removed>At least 400 shanties such as Sabiha's were vandalised after they refused to sell their homesteads.</p>