UZ Jubo League president’s son, two others held

Rab on Monday evening rescued five tokay gecko or Tokkhok, an endangered species, from Sherpur upazila and detained three men, including the son of Sherpur upazila Jubo League president, for allegedly trading the reptiles.

Shamsuzzoha Bin Tarek Neon, 20, son of Tarikul Islam Tarek, president of the Jubo League’s Sherpur upazila unit; Mohammad Nurnabi, 50, son of Dalil Uddin from Chakdholi village; and Makez Ali Sheikh, 32, son of Shukur Ali Sheikh from Mirzapur village -- all from the same upazila -- were apprehended during a raid around 3:30pm at their rented flat in Baroduari village of the upazila, said Maj SM Morshed Hasan, company commander of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab-12) in Bogura.

Rab conducted the raid at the house on information that the three had been mugging people by luring them into the flat with the claim that they have valuable commodities, such as uranium and rare species Tokkhok, for sale.

The five geckos, rescued from the flat, were handed over to Sherpur police, he also said. 

Tokay gecko is found in northeast India, Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, throughout Southeast Asia including the Philippines and Indonesia, and in western New Guinea in Melanesia.

Prof SM Iqbal of Zoology department at Government MM Ali College in Tangail, said the species is endangered in Bangladesh due to smuggling of the animals to China and Thailand through porous borders of Chittagong Hill Tracts.

Humayun Kabir, officer-in-charge of Sherpur Police Station, said Rab handed over the three detainees to them yesterday and a case was filed under the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act, 2012.

The three would be produced before the court today, the OC said, adding that they handed over the geckos to local forest department.