Bagerhat, Jan 2 — Nineteen deer skins were seized from two members of a wildlife poaching-smuggling gang in Bagerhat’s Sarankhola on Saturday. Detective Branch (DB) police identified the arrested smugglers as Md Elias Hawladar and Md Monirul Islam Sheikh hailing from Sarankhola.
District police chief Pankaj Chandra Roy later told reporters that a Bagerhat DB team conducted a drive in Shoronkhola bus terminal early Saturday and arrested the poachers from their home.
The deer skins were recovered based on information provided by them.
Pankaj said it was part of their routine drive to protect the resources of Sundarbans, a world heritage site. A case was filed against the two arrestees.
Bagerhat’s Additional Police Superintendent Safin Mahmud said Monirul and Elias are active members of a syndicate involved in poaching in Sundarbans and smuggling animal skins.
Elias was in the past for deer poaching in Sundarbans.
Last week, a joint drive of the Forest Department and RAB arrested another member of a different poaching syndicate with a tiger skin in Bagerhat. – UNB
