Police have detained a woman named Premrachho Marma, 47, with 24 monitor lizards in the Chengi Square area of Khagrachhari Sadar.

Police said the district administration and the forest department carried out a joint drive on a tip-off, recovered the lizards and detained her. She is the wife of Angio Marma of Kuradiachhara village in Panchhari upazila, Khagrachhari.

Forest department sources said officials of the district administration and the forest department raided the Chengi Square area through a mobile court run by the district administration. The lizards were found in five sacks.

During initial questioning, Premrachho Marma said she had bought the lizards for Tk 22,000 at Baraiyarhat in Chattogram to sell in Khagrachhari.

Khagrachhari divisional forest officer Md Farid Mia said a total of 24 monitor lizards were found in five sacks, 10 of them alive and 14 dead. The 10 live lizards were released into the natural forest at Alutila, and the 14 dead ones were buried.

Forest department officials said catching, transporting and selling wildlife threatens biodiversity and that legal action will be taken against such activities.

District assistant commissioner and executive magistrate Durjoy Goswami said Premrachho Marma had been sent to Khagrachhari Sadar police station, with instructions to file a regular case against her.

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