Police have rescued two endangered great hornbills in a drive on a Shyamoli Paribahan bus in Chandanaish, Chattogram. A mobile court sentenced the bus supervisor, Mizanur Rahman, 47, who was involved in the smuggling, to four months' simple imprisonment under the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act.

Mizanur Rahman lives in the Singhasan area of Bera upazila in Pabna.

He was sent to Chattogram Central Jail on Monday, 29 May, said Zimran Mohammad Sayek, assistant commissioner (land) and executive magistrate of Chandanaish upazila.

Chandanaish police station officer-in-charge (OC) Anwar Hossain told Jago News: "Around midnight on Sunday, 28 May, a drive was conducted on a Shyamoli Paribahan bus at the Gachbaria College Gate area of Chandanaish municipality on the Chattogram-Cox's Bazar highway. Two great hornbills were rescued from the bus. A smuggler named Mizanur Rahman was detained on suspicion of involvement. Mizanur Rahman is the bus supervisor. He was later given four months in prison by a mobile court."

The OC said these great hornbills are endangered in Bangladesh, and the two birds are worth an estimated Tk 4 lakh. The smuggler was taking them from Alikadam in Bandarban to Gazipur near Dhaka, and the two birds were then to be smuggled into India across the Satkhira border.

Three days earlier, police rescued four great hornbills in Banshkhali, Chattogram. A mobile court sentenced two people involved in smuggling those birds to six months in prison each.

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