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International gang of poachers busted

Additional Director General (Law and Order) R K Pandit told reporters in Lucknow that the gang was operating in and around Dudhwa National Park for the past six years and had so far killed 600 protected animals including tigers, deer and birds.

All the arrested persons - Prem Kumar, Daulat, Siya Ram and Chiddu - were from Palia police station area of Lakhimpur Kheri district, he said. Four others, including one from Nepal, were still at large.

The gang, which used special techniques and pesticides to kill the animals, was expected to give clues about its connection across the Indo-Nepal border and about other members of this international racket involved in smuggling of animals, Pandit said.

The arrests were made by the STF following the interrogation of two persons arrested in January near Lakhimpur Kheri from whose possession a leopard skin was seized.

They acted as 'carriers' for an international gang of poachers and supplied animal skins and other body parts, he said.

On the modus operandi of the gang, Pandit said an iron net was laid with a bait in forest areas to trap different species of protected animals.

For tigers, a calf was generally tied near the net and as soon as a wild cat approached, a shot was fired injuring the calf. Toxic chemicals, including insecticides and pesticide, were then applied on the wound. When the tiger returned and ate the calf, it was poisoned to death, he said.

While the meat of deer and other animals was sold in the local villages, the skin, bones and other parts of the animal body were separated and kept inside a safe place in the forest. They were later transported to different places in the country and Nepal, Pandit said.

The price of tiger hide was around Rs one million and that of bones of different animals between Rs 20 to Rs 25,000 per kilo in the international market, he added.

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