A mobile court in Banshkhali, Chattogram, has sentenced two men to six months in jail each for smuggling great hornbills, a threatened species. The sentence was handed down around noon on Friday (26 May) in front of Banshkhali police station by the upazila assistant commissioner (land) and executive magistrate Khondoker Mahmudul Hasan.

The two convicted are Md Mizanur Rahman, 42, son of the late Fazlul Haque of Bagerhat, and Md Selim, 43, son of the late Abdul Malek of Cox's Bazar.

Police had detained the two with the hornbills around midnight on Thursday as they were smuggling them along the PAB (Patiya-Anwara-Banshkhali) road. The rescued birds have been sent through the Forest Department to the Foy's Lake zoo in Chattogram.

During questioning the two said hornbill oil is used to make medicines, and the birds are smuggled abroad for that reason. They put the value of the four birds at Tk 8 lakh.

They also said the birds had been brought through Myanmar to Alikadam in Bandarban district. They were taking them from Alikadam to Satkhira for Tk 4,000 in vehicle hire and Tk 7,000 in wages.

Rafiqul Islam Chowdhury, divisional forest officer (Wildlife Management and Nature Conservation Division), told Jagonews: "We had a tip-off that great hornbills were being smuggled, and the police had the information too. The operation was mainly carried out by the police, and we assisted. Two smugglers were detained and four great hornbills rescued."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.