Four members of the forest department, including a station officer, were injured in an attack by poachers in Mongla while seizing deer meat.

Md Shahjahan, station officer at Jiudhara under the Chandpai range of the Sundarbans East Forest Division, confirmed the incident to Jago News.

He said that, acting on a tip-off, a drive was carried out at around 5pm on Sunday at a place called Isaher Chila in the Sundarbans, in the Baidyamari-Bashtala area next to the forest. A boat belonging to deer poachers was seized. A search of the boat turned up 20 kg of deer meat including two legs, 2,000 ft of deer snares, a machete and a knife. When the team tried to detain the poachers, they struck forest officer Shahjahan and the three forest guards with him with the boat's oars, beat them and seriously injured them, and then fled.

He added that preparations are under way to file a forest case over the incident, and drives to arrest the fugitives are continuing.

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