Assam: Huge Quantity Of Animal Body Parts Seized From Nagaon, Five Poachers Arrested
A wildlife activist said despite claims by the Assam forest department on no instances of poaching in the state, it has been going on unabated in the national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.
The Special Task Force (STF) of Assam Police has nabbed five alleged poachers from Nagaon's Jakhalabandha and Kaliabor areas and seized a huge quantity of animal body parts. Based on intelligence inputs, a team of the STF and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) conducted raids in the Jakhalabandha and Kaliabor areas on Tuesday.
The animal body parts include 12 ivories, two tiger canines, 15 rhino hooves, one deer antler and 1.031 kilogram of pangolin scales.
The accused have been identified as Gaffar Qureshi (24), Wakil Qureshi (60), Safiqul Islam (39), Ujjal Bharali (20) and Aditya Sarma (23).
While Gaffar, Wakil and Safiqul are residents of Jakhalabandha, Bharali hailed from Udalguri district's Rowta and Sarma is a resident of Guwahati. The accused and seized items were later handed over to Jakhalabandha police.
A case has been lodged against the accused under sections 9/39/44/48(A)/49(B)/51 of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
Speaking to ABP Live, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP), STF, Pranab Pegu said, "A team of STF accompanied by personnel of WCCB from Guwahati conducted raids at two different locations in Jakhalabandha and Kaliabor. During these raids, we nabbed five persons and seized the animal body parts. Interrogation of the accused is on."
Wildlife activist Mubina Akhtar told ABP Live that despite claims by the Assam forest department on no instances of poaching, it has been going on unabated in the national parks and wildlife sanctuaries.
"Several seizures of animal body parts and arrests of wildlife traffickers have been made by the law enforcement agencies at different locations of the state in the recent past. If poaching is not taking place then where are these animal body parts coming from?" Akhtar said.
Akhtar said the Assam forest department was not taking necessary steps to curb the menace of poaching and the government had tunred a blind eye to the issue after polls.
The activist also alleged that an international racket of wildlife traffickers was active in the state.
"Forest staff is not sufficient in the Manas National Park but the Assam government has not taken steps to fill up these vacancies. Poaching in Assam was an issue during the assembly and general elections but after coming to power, the BJP-led government has not taken the matter seriously," Akhtar alleged.
"Tuesday's seizure of animal body parts at Jakhalabandha indicates that the poaching must have taken place in the Kaziranga National Park as it is located nearby to the place of seizure," Akhtar further said.
On June 29, police arrested four alleged wildlife traffickers along with tiger bones and skin in the state's Kamrup district. The accused were allegedly part of an inter-state wildlife smuggling racket and involved in poaching of a tiger in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli.
During preliminary investigation, the accused revealed that they were transporting the tiger body parts to Meghalaya to be delivered to another location.
After interrogation, a mother-son duo, who were part of the racket, was arrested from Assam's West Karbi Anglong district and Meghalaya's Shillong. Around 7.50 grams of pangolin scales were recovered from the possession of one of the accused.
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