Barely a week into a drive that led to seizure of about 7,500kg of Hilsa fry from Karwan Bazar, a huge cache of the baby fish was seized today from the wholesale kitchen market.

Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) seized three tonnes (3,000kg) of Hilsa fry from the market amid a week-long campaign for conservation of the baby fish that began from April 1.

A unit of Rab-3, teaming up with the fisheries department, conducted the raid around 5:00am and seized the baby fishes, said Rezaul Kabir, magistrate of the mobile court.

Four people were fined Tk 5,000 each in connection for possession of the fishes, he said. “The seized fishes were distributed among the orphans and slum children.”

The fishes were said to have been brought in from Barisal.

In another drive, the same team seized 2.5 tonnes (2,500kg) of Hilsha fry from city’s Merul Badda later in the day. In this connection, two people were fined Tk 5,000 each.

On March 31, a team of Rab seized about 7,500kg of Hilsa fry (fishes that are less than nine inches long) from the Karwan Bazar market.