Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) in a drive arrested three poachers and recovered hides of a tiger and four deer from their possession in Budhhata Bazar area under Assassuni upazila of the district yesterday.

The arrestees are Abu Salek, 42, Ismail Morol, 35, and Aman Ullah Gazi, 25. They hailed from different upazilas of Satkhira and Khulna districts.

On secret information, a team of the elite force, led by Assistant Superintendent of Police Abdur Razzak, conducted a drive in Budhhata Bazar area and arrested the trio along with the animal hides around 12:30pm, Lt Col Enamul Arif Sumon, director of Rab-6 in Khulna, said at a press briefing at Satkhira camp.

The poachers have long been hunting tigers and deer in the Sundarbans to smuggle their hides abroad, the Rab official added. The arrestees were later handed over to Assasuni Police Station, said ASP Abdur Razzak.

On October 16, Rab members arrested six poachers along with two tiger hides from Itagachha area of the town, while members of Rab-6 detained a man along with a tiger hide in Tala upazila on February 5.