Forest guards recovered the skeleton of a crocodile from possession of a poacher at Sonatala village under Sharankhola upazila of Bagerhat district on Friday.

Skeleton of the 15-feet long crocodile was found dumped in a banana garden near the house of the poacher, Badal Howlader, said assistant conservator of forests (ACF) of Kashyapi, Bikash Chandra. But Badal could not be arrested as he escaped on receiving information about the raid.

Forest guards also recovered 127 pieces of bones of crocodiles contained in a

sack at the same spot.

The station officer of Sharankhola range, Shahidul Islam, filed a case with Sharankhola police yesterday accusing Badal Howlader.

Contacted, divisional forest officer (DFO) of east wing of Sundarban Forest Division Mihir Kumar said an organised gang is involved in poaching tigers, deer and crocodiles for selling their skins and bones both at home and abroad.

Killing of crocodile is a new phenomenon which is on rise in recent time, the DFO said.

However, we have been conducting continuous drives to arrest the poachers, the DFO said.