Law enforcers have arrested one more person in connection with the theft of three lemurs from Gazipur Safari Park in March.

The suspect, Majnu Mia, 55, was arrested from Kalaipara area of ​​ Mymensingh's Gafargaon upazila on Tuesday, Special Police Superintendent (Media) of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Jasim Uddin Khan said in a press statement issued on Thursday.

Majnu, a resident of Kalaipara area, is a member of an international animal trafficking ring. His statement was recorded in the court under Section 164, said the statement.

With this, six people, all members of the trafficking ring, have so far been arrested in connection with the theft. They had been smuggling rare animals stolen from Gazipur Safari Park abroad.

The other arrested are -- Nipel Mahmud, 33; Jewel Mia, 42; Ismail Hossain Hridoy, 26; Delwar Hossain Tausif, 22; and Md Sabbir Hossain Tapan, 26. Of them, Nipel worked at the park through outsourcing.

CID said three endangered and rare ring-tailed lemurs (two males and one female), valued at Tk 3 lakh, were stolen from the park on March 23 night.

The next day, the park authorities filed a case with Sreepur Police Station after the matter was reported by the cleaning staff.

In 2018, two organisations imported 86 pairs of animals, including two ring-tailed lemurs -- whose import, conservation and sale are prohibited -- from Madagascar to Bangladesh. Later, the animals were shifted to Gazipur Safari Park. There, the lemurs gave birth to two more babies, making a total of four lemurs in the park. Later, one of them died.

Park worker Nipel would take pictures and videos of rare animals at the facility and post them on online groups, including on Facebook, to attract foreign buyers. He would steal and sell the animals according to the buyers' preferences.

The ring sold one of the three lemurs of the park for Tk 5,20,000, and tried to sell the remaining two to Indian buyers for Tk 7,00,000, CID investigation found.

A motorcycle used in the theft has been seized. One of the stolen lemurs has been recovered, and operation are ongoing to recover the remaining two, and identify and arrest other members of the ring, said the agency.

The case is currently being investigated by the Gazipur District and Metro Division of the CID.

Ring-tailed lemurs are endemic to Madagascar and are listed as internationally endangered.

According to the International Convention on the Conservation of Wildlife, the trade, conservation or export of this species is strictly prohibited.

Hunting, selling or trafficking them is also a punishable offense under the Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act, 2012 of Bangladesh.