Police arrested two men along with four cubs (two lion, two leopard) from Chanchra intersection area of Sadar upazila of Jessore on Monday morning.
The arrestees were identified as Rana Miah, 28, son of Mannan Bhuiyan, hailing from Palash upazila of Narsingdi district and Kamruzzaman Babu, 32, hailing from Bogra.
Sub-inspector Syed Bayezid Hossain, in-charge of Chanchra Police Outpost, said that on secret information, a team of police raided in a Benapole-bound vehicle and rescued the cubs.
Later, police arrested the duo, says local agencies.
“We believe two of them are lion cubs,” said Forest Department Official Sarwar Alam.
“The other two are leopard cats.”
“The cheetah-like animals can be found in Bangladesh’s Sylhet and the tea gardens in India’s Meghalaya, Assam and Mizoram. Lions, however, are not native to Bangladesh. We think they were brought in from overseas.”
Other forest officials would be able to provide more information, he added.
