BSS, Dhaka :Elite anti-crime Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) force yesterday seized 700 kilograms of piranha, the ferocious carnivore predators, and toxic jelly-mixed shrimps in a predawn raid in the capital’s largest Karwan Bazaar kitchen market.”Two hundred kilograms of piranha and 500 kilograms of toxic shrimps were seized during the drive while five fish traders were detained,” RAB’s executive magistrate Helal Uddin, who ordered the punitive action during the more than two hour mobile court at the scene, told BSS.He said the court fined Taka 1.20 lakh and jailed one of the traders for one month for selling piranha, which has been banned in Bangladesh since 2008 as it is considered as a threat to indigenous aquatic life.Of the rest four, one was fined Taka 100,000 for mixing toxic preservative jelly and infusing water into the precious aquatic creature to increase their weight for profiteering.”The rests were freed after realizing Taka 20,000 from them – one of them was fined Taka 10,000 and Taka 5000 were realized from each of the remaining two,” Uddin said.Until the last decade, piranha was a little known fish in Bangladesh, a species having their abode in rivers of South America’s Amazonian region.Piranhas are normally about 14 to 26 cm long in size having similarity with traditional “chanda” fish but they could be recognized by their unique dentition having a single row of sharp teeth in both jaws. According literatures on aquatics their teeth are tightly packed and interlocking and are used for rapid puncture and shearing. Individual teeth are typically broadly triangular, pointed, and blade-like.Recent media reports supplemented various myths that exist about piranhas with some describing how particularly the red-bellied piranha can dilacerate a human body or cattle in seconds.
