Disguised as buyers, forest officials have arrested a member of an organised gang of poachers. And recovered four skulls, three hides and 138 bones of tigers at Sharankhola upazila of Bagerhat.
The arrested, Jamal Fakir, admitted that he poisoned three tigers to death, and claimed to find one skull in the Sundarbans.
It took them one and a half months to kill the tigers
Of the three, two were adult tigers and the other was an adult tigress, said Mihir Kumar Doe, divisional forest officer (DFO) of the Sundarbans.
Jamal hails from Uttar Tafalbari village of Sharankhola upazila.
After several days of hard bargaining, Jamal agreed to sell each skull for Tk one lakh, each square feet of skin for Tk 17,000 and each kilogram of bones for Tk 20,000.
In total, they (forest officials) agreed to pay him Tk 16.70 lakh and fixed Wednesday morning for delivery.
Thus they were apprehended.