Illegal, yet on sale
Forest officials yesterday in a drive recovered around 200 pond herons from the capital's Paribagh and arrested one person from the spot for the illegal trading in the wild bird.
A joint team of officials of the Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation Division and Wildlife Crime Control Unit of the forest department along with law enforcers conducted the raid.
The birds were released at the National Botanical Garden in Mirpur later in the afternoon.
Acting on a tip off, the officials conducted a raid on an alley near a CNG filling station at Paribagh around 11:00am and recovered 195 pond herons, locally known as kani bok. Police arrested Mohammed Kayes with the birds from the spot, said Ashim Mallik, inspector of the Wildlife Crime Control Unit.
Kayes, 26, a resident of Bangla Motor, had been involved in the trading of wild birds for long, said Ashim, adding that the offender bought the birds from a wholesale chicken market near Tejgaon Railway Station.
Hailing from Rajshahi, Kayes told The Daily Star that he along with his trading partner Humayun Kabir of Mymensingh was involved in the illegal trade for years.
They sell those birds at prices ranging from Tk 250 to Tk 400 a pair mainly to the city dwellers, he added.
Forest officials said those birds were captured from different wetlands across the country using traps.
Traders sell herons and egrets mainly for meat, said Ashim.
A mobile court led by Sarowar Alam, executive magistrate of Dhaka Metropolitan Police, sentenced Kayes to one year's imprisonment.
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