Poacher held with tiger skin

A team of Rab and forest guards has arrested a poacher and recovered a tiger skin from his possession in Bagerhat's Sharankhola upazila.

The arrestee is Gaus Fakir, 45, of Dakkhin Southkhali of the upazila. Previously, he used to earn his living by catching fish in various rivers and canals in the Sundarbans area.

Mohammad Belayet Hossain, divisional forest officer (DFO) of the forest department (East Sundarbans), said, "We had information that Gaus was trying to a sell the skin of a tiger. In the guise of a potential buyer, we contacted him and bargained over the price for three to four days … At one point of the bargaining, he decided to sell it for Tk 13 lakh."

Later, forest guards, with the help of Rab-8, carried out a drive in Rayenda Bazar area of Sharankhola and arrested Gaus along with the skin around 7:30pm on Tuesday, he said.

A case was filed against Gaus for killing tigers under the wildlife conservation act.

Yesterday, he was produced before a court, which sent him to jail. The court also ordered the forest department to preserve the skin,  said sources at forest department.