Poachers deep in the Sundarbans fled on seeing forest guards, leaving behind 9 kg of cooked deer meat. The guards could not catch them but seized three boats.

Shyama Prasad Roy, officer in charge of the Patkostha forest patrol outpost under the Khulna range, confirmed the matter.

He said that at around 5am on 20 May, forest guards from the Patkostha outpost raided Gonsha canal in the Sundarbans. Sensing their presence, the poachers fled, leaving behind the cooked deer meat, rice and other equipment.

Shyama Prasad Roy said: "At dawn we saw three boats side by side in the Gonsha canal area and went forward with the patrol team. We could dimly see some people sitting down to eat rice at the front of a boat. On seeing us, at least six people left their plates of rice, jumped from the boats and fled into the deep forest. So we could not detain anyone. But searching the abandoned boats we found crab-catching equipment, cooked deer meat in four pots and rice mixed on plates."

AZM Hasanur Rahman, assistant conservator of forests (ACF) for the Sundarbans Khulna range, said a case has been filed over the incident. The seized deer meat has been buried and destroyed on the court's order. Action will be taken against those involved after an investigation.

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