Police, in separate drives, have arrested three people and recovered four geckos, a lizard like creature, in Surma upazila of Sylhet district.
Police arrested them at Humayun Rashid Chattar and Hazrat Shahjalal Dargah gate areas and recovered the geckos on Wednesday night.
The arrestees are Monir Uddin, 60, son of late Abdul Malek of Dorakul village, Mohammad Abdul Majid, 48, son of Abdul Goffur of Khagrachhari and Julhash Mia, 48.
Police said a group including Monir have been involved with the trade of geckos in Sylhet for a long time and as its part, they brought four geckos from Khagrachhari on Wednesday night.
South Shurma police outpost SI Shafiqul Islam Khan said: “Acting on a tip-off, a team arrested Majid and Julhas from Humayun Rashid Chattar area around 9:30pm.”
“On information from them, police conducted another drive at Hazrat Shahjalal Dargah gate area and arrested Manir with the four geckos,” he said.
The SI said the estimated price of the geckos is more than Tk1.5 crore.
In primary investigation, Monir told the police that he had brought the geckos to keep them as pets.
South Shurma police station Officer-in-Charge Md Mursalin said: “The arrestees will be sent to the court and the geckos will be handed over to the forest department.
