Photo: BSS

BAGERHAT, Sept 11, 2026 (BSS) - The Forest Department seized a trawler carrying deer-hunting traps in the Narikelbaria area of the Eastern Sundarbans today, while six to seven suspected poachers fled into the forest after spotting forest guards.

The operation was conducted at around 5:30am during a regular patrol led by Forester Md Mizanur Rahman, officer-in-charge of the Shelarchar Patrol Post under the Sharankhola Range of the Sundarbans East Forest Division.

Forest guards spotted the trawler in the Bay of Bengal and ordered it to stop. However, the occupants steered the vessel towards the Sundarbans shore and quickly fled into the forest.

The trawler began sinking amid strong waves. Forest guards later recovered the half-submerged vessel and brought it to Shelarchar, where they found four bags containing a large number of deer snares.

Some equipment belonging to the suspected poachers, including an ice-filled cockpit, was washed away when the trawler began sinking, forest officials said.

Md Shariful Islam, Assistant Conservator of Forests and Sharankhola Range Officer of the Sundarbans East Forest Division, said the operation had foiled an attempt to illegally hunt deer.
"We initially believe the unidentified poachers were heading to the Narikelbaria area by sea with deer snares and an ice-filled container," he said.

Illegal deer hunting remains a major concern for wildlife conservation in the Sundarbans, as indiscriminate poaching threatens the deer population and the region's overall biodiversity.