1 held on suspicion of selling wild animal body parts in Satkhira: forest official

Police yesterday arrested one person for allegedly selling body parts of wild animals from Gabura village of Shyamnagar upazila in the Sundarbans of Satkhira.

Bashirul Al Mamun, divisional forest officer (DFO) of Sundarban (West), told The Daily Star that he heard from colleagues that there was part of a tiger tooth in arrestee's collection recovered by police with the help of forest officials.

The arrestee, Amzad Khan, has allegedly been involved in trading body parts of tigers over the last few years, locals said, which is illegal as per the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act 2012.

However, the forest department could not confirm whether the recovered bones are from tigers.

Police and forest officials also recovered 52 pieces of bones, mostly of vertebra of a mammal, and a deer head from his possession after searching his house this evening, reports our local correspondent.

"We have recovered bones of some wild animals. But without testing those in a lab we cannot say whether those are tiger bones or not," Bashirul Al Mamun, divisional forest officer (DFO) of Sundarban (West), told The Daily Star.

The accused will be produced before court on Monday, said officials of the forest department's Satkhira range office.

According to the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act 2012, trading body parts of tigers is an offence punishable by imprisonment for up to three years or a fined not exceeding Tk 3 lakh.

Law enforcers and officials of forest departments recovered tiger skin and bones in and around the Sundarbans in recent years, revealing that a syndicate is involved in wild life trade in the region.

Nearly every part of a tiger's body is used in Chinese medicine.