Bangladeshi among nine wildlife traffickers held in Assam

A Bangladeshi national was among nine wildlife traffickers arrested in western Assam’s Chirang district around midnight on Friday (June 19, 2026).

The Assam Police’s Special Task Force (STF) arrested the nine with assistance from the Chirang police along Bamungaon Road under Sidli police station. Eight golden langurs were recovered from their possession, and one of them was found dead.

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The golden langur is an endangered species notified under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, with a blackmarket value of about ₹16 lakh, officials said.

The arrested Bangladeshi national was identified as Mohammed Jamal. He said he was from Dhaka and entered India on June 15. Officials suspected that he entered the country illegally.

An STF spokesperson said five of Jamal’s accomplices — Injamamul Hoque Mondal, Abdul Khalek Mondal, Fakir Chand Mandal, Alomgir Mulla, and Latibul Shaikh — are from West Bengal. The remaining three, identified as Jackson Biswakarma, Ranjit Narzary, and Pinkush Narzary, are from Assam.

He said the nine were part of a major international wildlife trafficking network. They were transporting the primates in two vehicles.

Chirang Divisional Forest Officer Kunjan Basumatary said two cages were arranged for the golden langurs, as they had been kept in suffocating sacks. 

“The langurs were under stress. They will be released in their natural habitat soon in the presence of a magistrate,” he said.

Mr. Basumatary said that the animals were captured from the Ultapani area of Kokrajhar district and were being trafficked through local intermediaries in Chirang for delivery to prospective buyers. The two vehicles used to smuggle the primates were seized.

“Considering that a Bangladeshi is involved, we can call it an international wildlife trafficking gang. They had plans to take the animals to West Bengal and from there, to the international blackmarket,” he said, adding that the police and the Forest Department would investigate if more people were part of the gang.

Woman from Dhaka held

On Tuesday (June 17, 2026), the police arrested a 24-year-old woman from the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati after she admitted to being a Bangladeshi national.

Officials said the airport authorities became suspicious of her movements while she was collecting her baggage after arriving on an evening flight from Bengaluru. She was found using a fake Aadhaar card.

Later, interrogated by the State police’s Border Branch (it is tasked with detecting and detaining foreign nationals who enter Assam illegally) and the Border Security Force, the woman said she was a resident of Narayanganj near Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka.

Police said she allegedly entered India through Tripura with the help of a human trafficker. “Before she crossed over, she was provided with a forged Aadhaar card in the name of Puja Das, with an address in West Bengal,” an official said.

The woman was sent to the transit camp (detention centre) at Matia in south-western Assam’s Goalpara district for further legal proceedings.

The police in Guwahati also detained 13 suspected Bangladeshi nationals on Friday (June 19, 2026) during a routine verification drive. They were staying at a guesthouse and possessed documents of doubtful origin, the police said.