The Forest Department has detained three fishermen in the Sundarbans as they were preparing to hunt deer and catch fish. A boat, nets and deer-hunting traps were seized from them.

They were detained at about 3:30am after the night of Friday, 7 April, in canal No 8 near Karamjal in the forest.

The detained fishermen are Asim Sheikh (35), Zakir Hossain (34) and Sagar Nath (23), residents of the Chila and South Kainmari areas of Mongla. Mahbub Hasan, Chandpai range officer (assistant conservator of forests) of the East Sundarbans division, confirmed the information.

He said that during a regular patrol at about 3:30am, a boat was found in canal No 8 next to the Karamjal tourism and wildlife breeding centre. A search of the boat turned up 25 deer-hunting traps and two nets. The three fishermen on board were detained for entering the forest illegally without a Forest Department pass or permit and for preparing to catch fish and hunt deer.

A case was filed against them and they were sent to jail through the court on Saturday, 8 April, forest officer Mahbub said.

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