Tiger-hides, bones recovered, 1 arrested

Bagerhat, Feb 16 (bdnews24.com) —

Sundarban officials have recovered three tiger-hides, four skulls, and a large number of bones from Banglabazar village in Sharankhola Upazila. A team, led by Sundarban east portion official Mihir Kumar Do, conducted a raid around 9am on Wednesday and discovered the remains. The team arrested one Jamal Fakir, 38, believed to be linked with the incident. Fakir hails from Rayenda union. Fakir and the recovered tiger remains was taken to the forest department office around midday for questioning. The recovered Royal Bengal Tiger hides were measured to be 10 feet and two inches, nine feet and nine inches, and nine feet three inches long, while the number of 138 bones recovered weighed in at 31 kilograms. Fakir confessed of killing three tigers with the assistance of another 10-12 people. Operation team leader Do told bdnews24.com that the forest officials had been trying to trace the group of tiger hunters over the last last one and half months. Fakir was trapped in a deserted house of Banglabazar village after a false agreement was made to buy the remains from him for Tk 1,670,000. Do said they were initially suspecting that two, among the three hides, might have been of a male tiger and the third that of a female. bdnews24.com/corr/mi/ach/tk/1602h