Fourteen Tokay geckos that were being smuggled into India from Bangladesh on Wednesday were rescued near the Parghumti border outpost in North 24-Parganas, a BSF officer said.

A BSF team saw a man wading through the Kalindi river from Bangladesh with a polythene bag, the officer said. When the BSF patrol party asked him to stop, he dropped the bag and fled.

The team found the 14 geckos in the bag.

The geckos have been handed over to the forest department’s Wildlife Rescue Centre.

The Tokay gecko is a species of Asian lizard characterised by orange spots on the skin and a shrill croak. The reptile is found in rainforests, particularly in the Northeast, apart from Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia, the Philippines and New Guinea. It is protected under Schedule IV of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972.