Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) seized 110kg of dried turtle in bordering Birampur upazila on Sunday morning, 22 days after a similar incident in Nawabganj upazila of the same district.
Tipped off, a BGB team led by Subedar Shafiuddin Howladar of Birampur camp raided Chandipur village in Birampur upazila on Sunday morning and seized 110kg of dried turtle worth Tk 13 lakh, said sources of Phulbari 40 Battalion under Dinajpur Sector of BGB.
The owners, possibly preparing to smuggle the item to India, however, managed to flee leaving the dried turtle worth around Tk 15 lakh as the BGB jawans chased them with the help of locals.
Lt Col Aminul Islam Shikdar, commanding officer of Phulbari 40 Battalion, confirmed the incident and said, "BGB under my area will remain vigilant to check smuggling of dried turtle."
Earlier on June 26, at least 124kg dried turtle was recovered from Tikur village under Nawabganj upazila of Dinajpur.
Recently a section of unscrupulous people have chosen dried turtle as a new item for smuggling, posing threat to the freshwater reptile, BGB officials said.
Dried turtle is of high demand in international market, costing around $160 (Tk 12,000) per kg, sources said.
"Dried turtle is used for preparing soups and also medicine in different countries. In some countries it is also used as nutrient for animals," Mostafa Ali Reza Hossain, director of the fish museum of Bangladesh Agriculture Universality at Mymensigh, told this correspondent a few days ago.
Source : The Daily Star
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