4 held with 457 parakeets in Chapainawabganj

A team of Department of Narcotics Control has rescued 457 plum-headed parakeets from the possession of four people during regular patrol in Shiberer Hat area of Chapainawabganj Sadar upazila on Monday night.

The team also arrested the four--Azizul Haque, Mohammad Raju, Tanvir and Mridha around 11:30pm last night from a pick-up van for illegally catching the birds, reports our local correspondent quoting Alamgir Hossain, upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) of Chapainawabganj.

Of the arrestees, Azizul and Mohammad are bird traders, who used to collect the birds from Chakla village of Sadar upazila and take those to Dhaka for selling via Bogura, the UNO said.

The mobile court led by the UNO sentenced Azizul and Mohammad to one-year imprisonment each for violating the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act, 2012. The court also fined Tanvir Tk 50,000 and Mridha Tk 10,000.

Later yesterday afternoon, the UNO released the birds at upazila parishad campus in presence of the officials of Department of Narcotics Control, Chapainawabganj Forest Department and members of local volunteer organisation Save the Nature.