Police in Bogura have detained a man named Mehedi Hasan Mondol, 42, with a tokay gecko. He was sent to jail on Wednesday afternoon, 14 June.

He was detained on Tuesday night at an amusement centre in the town called Green Resort, where he works as the manager. Mehedi Hasan Mondol is the son of Abul Hossain Mondol of Huakua village in Sonatala upazila.

Additional Superintendent of Police Sharafat Islam said Mehedi Hasan was an active member of a ring smuggling the endangered tokay gecko. On Tuesday night, the national emergency service 999 received information that a tokay gecko was being kept at Green Resort in Sabgram for trafficking. Police raided the place, recovered the gecko from a carton and arrested the manager, Mehedi Hasan.

He said the gecko was about 7–8 inches long. A case has been filed against Mehedi Hasan at Bogura Sadar police station under the relevant law. The gecko belongs to an endangered species and will be handed over to the wildlife conservation and security department.

Wildlife expert Asif Mahmud said animals of this kind have no real market value. The tokay is a tree lizard, he said, and fraudsters collect them to cheat people by setting a supposed price on them.

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