<i>Saved from poachers, baby croc freed in the wild</i>

A baby crocodile, allegedly brought from salt waters of Sundarbans canal by smugglers, was miraculously saved yesterday.
Forest department officials in a drive recovered the crocodile from a paddy field of Dhalir Ghope village in Sharankhola upazila in the morning.
Assistant Forest conservator of the Sundarbans East Zone Kashyap Bikash Chandra said, on secret information, a team raided the village at about 7:00 am and recovered the four-foot-long crocodile kept in a bamboo cage.
However, no one was arrested in this connection till filing of this report yesterday afternoon.
Later, the recovered crocodile was released at the crocodile breeding centre at Karomjal under Chadpai Range of the Sundarbans.
An organised gang has long been smuggling crocodiles out of the country after collecting those from various rivers canals and water bodies, sources said.
At least six crocodiles were recovered while being smuggled from the world's largest mangrove forest in the last one year.
In September last year, law enforcers seized four crocodile skins from a house at Uttar Kadamtala village. A case was also filed against six people.
Forest officials said that a smugglers' syndicate active at Sonatala village in the upazila, might have brought the baby crocodile on Friday night and hid it in the paddy field.