4 tiger poachers jailed, fined in Bagerhat
A Bagerhat court has sentenced four poachers to jail and fined them all in a tiger killing case.
The court also ordered the convicts to pay Tk 25,000 each as compensation for killing the tigers.
Senior Judicial Magistrate Md. Jamal Hossain handed down the judgment on Tuesday afternoon.
The convicts are Jamal Fakir, 38, Hemayet Howlader, 65, Dhalu Molla, 38, of Uttar Tafalbari village and Khair Boyati, 63, of Pachimkhada village in Sharankhola upazila of Bagerhat district.
According to statement of the case, coastguards and forest guards in a joint drive in the guise of buyers on February 16 in 2011 recovered three pieces of skin, four skulls and 31 kilograms of limbs of tigers from Banglabazar village of Sharankhola upazila.
Poacher Jamal Fakir, arrested from the spot during the drive, later helped coastguards arrest the three others.
On February 17, forest official KM Kabiruddin of the East Wing of Sundarban Forest Division filed a case against the four poachers under Wildlife Protection Act.
The court, after recording statements of prosecution witnesses with evidences during the trial, sentenced accused Jamal Fakir to four and a half years rigorous imprisonment (RI) and fined Tk 25,000, in default, to suffer more six months in jail.
Besides, Khair Boyati is to suffer 30 months of RI and pay a fine of Tk 10,000, in default, to suffer three months more in jail.
Accused Hemayet Howlader and Dhalu Molla got three years of RI. They were fined Tk 15,000 each, in default, to suffer four months more in jail.
Of the convicts, only Jamal Fakir and Khair Boyati were present at the court as the two others remained at large.
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