Officals from the Department of Livestock Services (DoLS) yesterday morning seized 220 birds in the capital’s Mirpur area after they were smuggled into Dhaka from Rajshahai.
The birds included 144 Totas, 70 Muniyas and 6 Mainas. Two of the Muniya birds died.
Asim Mallik, an DoLS inspector, said acting on a tip-off they had took position in the Gabtoli area where they saw a man carrying the birds in a bus.
The Basanti Paribahan bus originated from Rajshahi.
“Tha man took out the birds from the bus and shifted them in a CNG-run auto-rickshaw that headed towards Mirpur. As we followed it, he ran away leaving the birds in Section-13 of Mirpur,” said Asim.
He said the plan may have been to smuggle the birds to India.
The surviving 218 birds were freed at Bangabandhu Safari Park in Gazipur, he added.
There are a number of gangs in the capital and elsewhere in the country engaged in the illegal trading and smuggling of birds in association with officials and employees of the DoLS.
They work under the banner of various environmentalist organisations, sources said.