Four tiger poachers will be earning their stripes in the afterlife.
The quartet was killed during a shootout in a Bangladeshi mangrove forest with police.
According to local reports, the armed poachers opened fire on cops from the elite Rapid Action Battalion, the anti-terrorism unit of the Bangladesh Police.
They had been questioned earlier on Wednesday, officials said.
The poachers were trying to escape across a river in the world’s largest mangrove forest, the Sundarbans.
“These gangs have become a major threat to wildlife conservation in the mangroves,” RAB spokesman Tajul Islam said.
In the aftermath, investigators found four bodies, guns and ammo on the poachers’ boat.
Cops said the dead men were members of a gang that makes its money from poaching rare Bengal tigers and Irrawaddy dolphins.
According to the RAB, 120 poachers have been killed in clashes with cops since 2004. More than 400 have been arrested in the mangroves for poaching.
The Daily Mail reports that at least 200 poachers have surrendered their weapons in exchange for mobile phones, cash and legal aid.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has declared the campaign against the poachers a success.
And last week, officials said the tiger population in the area has grown for the first time in 20 years.
In 2004, there were 440 tigers in the area and that dropped to 106 in 2015. Last year, the number of majestic cats had risen to 114. The area also includes parts of India.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
