Forest officer injured in poacher attack in Sundarban; 3 detained

Bangla Press Desk: A forest officer was injured Monday in the Sundarbans, when a group of poachers hunting deer attacked him.

The incident took place at Dimer Char in the Sarankhola range of the Sundarbans East Division in Bagerhat.

The injured officer, Rana Dev, received first aid at the temporary Dublarchar Health Centre.

He serves as an Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) in the Sarankhola range.

Dev said that the poachers hit him all over his body, and he bled from his nose and ears.

The Forest Department later went after and arrested 3 members of the poaching gang.

The detainees are - Rafi Hasan, 25, from Sugandhi village, Al-Amin Akunji, 28, from Jhalbari village, and Shahid Mallik, 27, from Sonatunia village.

Additionally, authorities recovered 18 traps used for deer hunting from the suspects.

ACF Dev said that he was patrolling the forest with 5 other officers when they spotted the poachers’ traps.

They also saw five poachers in the forest.

After recovering the traps and detaining three of the poachers, a crowd of 25 to 30 people gathered and tried to rescue the detainees.

Md Shahidullah, Officer-in-Charge of Sarankhola Police Station, said that they were aware of the attack but had not received a written complaint from the Forest Department yet.

Meanwhile, the Forest Department is preparing to file a case and continuing the search for other attackers.

BP/SP