14kg tusks, buckskin worth Tk 1.37 crore seized in Ctg

Rab has arrested a suspected wildlife smuggler with 14 kilograms of wild elephant tusks and a buckskin worth Tk 1.37 crore from his flat in Chattogram's Panchlaish.

The arrestee is Abdul Malek, 68, of Sylhet's Kamalganj. However, he has been living in Rangamati's Bagaichari area for the last 40 years and owns around 12 elephants legally.

Rab officials said the tusks and buckskin are worth Tk 1.37 crore in the black market.

Rab-7's Chandgaon Camp Commander Major Mehedi Hasan told The Daily Star that a team of Rab, on information, raided the house of Malek in the Panchlaish area on Friday night at around 11:30pm.

"We had information about Malek's involvement in smuggling elephant tusks and skins of deer. He had been doing this for a long time," Major Mehedi Hasan said.

"After hours of searching, Rab found the elephant tusks weighing 14kg and a buckskin inside a plastic sack under a cabinet of his flat. Later, Rab took him into custody for interrogation," he added.

"During interrogation, Malek said the tusks and buckskin were collected from the deep forest of Ali Kadam and Lama of Bandarban district. He had plans to send those to Sylhet border to smuggle those out of the country," said Mehedi.

Rab today filed a case accusing Malek of wildlife smuggling with the Panchlaish police station. Later, a court in the evening sent Malek to jail, said Officer-in-Charge (OC) Nazim Uddin of Panchlaish police station.

Rab said Malek, though hailing from Sylhet's Kamalganj, has been living in a remote place in Rangamati's Bagaichari area for nearly 40 years. He came there with his father in 1976 to look after private elephants.

Malek last renewed his licence for owning elephants in 2010. He has 12 licensed elephants, Rab said.

However, Malek has been accused of owning 25 unregistered elephants which he uses for carrying logs in deep forests and for entertainment purposes.

Earlier on Friday, a mobile court sentenced two people to six months' jail after they were held with four endangered hornbill birds in Banshkhali upazila. Police said they wanted to smuggle the birds to India after catching those from the deep forests in Ali Kadam of Bandarban.