Police have rescued two bear cubs of an endangered species in Chakaria upazila of Cox's Bazar and arrested an alleged trafficker, Dipak Das, 32. He was arrested in Digor Pankhali village of Fashiakhali union in the upazila.

Cox's Bazar Superintendent of Police Md Mahfuzul Islam gave the details at a press briefing at his office on the afternoon of Saturday, 21 January. He said a team from the District Detective Branch raided the area on Friday night and arrested Dipak Das, a member of a trafficking ring, along with the two cubs.

The police chief said the cubs had been smuggled in from neighbouring Myanmar through the Bandarban border 14 days earlier. They were being held until they could be trafficked on to another neighbouring country for sale at a high profit on the international market. Police arrested him after a tip-off from intelligence sources.

The officer said this active member of a wildlife trafficking ring was caught after a long time on the basis of information received from India. He said Dipak Das is involved with a ring that smuggles wildlife whose import and export are banned into a neighbouring country illegally through the Satkhira and Jashore borders. He has previously trafficked two bears and six slow lorises.

A case has been filed against Dipak Das at Chakaria police station, and other legal proceedings against him are under way, SP Mahfuzul Islam said.

The black bear is considered a critically endangered species in Bangladesh and is protected under Schedule 1 of the country's Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act 2012.

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