Stealthy gang kept tiger skin buried in pit for 6 months in Pauri

The Times of India , Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Correspondent : Kautilya Singh|
DEHRADUN: As cases of wildlife poaching have witnessed a rise in the state, the modus operandi in most cases appears to be common. After a special task force (STF) of the Uttarakhand Police on Sunday seized the skin and bones of an adult tiger from the possession of four suspected poachers in Dehradun district, it has emerged that the gang removed the skin of the big cat and hid it along with the bones of the animals in a forest in Pauri. For six months, they waited. After striking a good deal the group returned to collect its haul but was nabbed.

Secluded forests in the state have become a haven for poachers to hide their illicit activities. An STF official on the condition of anonymity said that poachers resort to digging pits and using them to hide animal skin and bones in polythene bags. "They remove the skin and bones and keep them in polythene bags. The bags are then dumped in a pit in a jungle. After a period of four to five months the gang returns to collect the skin and bones," the official said.

In March this year, in the biggest haul of its kind, an STF team had seized five tiger skins from poachers belonging to the notorious Bawaria gang. The gang had dug up 22 pits in forests in UP and Uttarakhand to hide animal skins and bones.

The four poachers arrested on Sunday have claimed that they did not kill the tiger but found the big cat dead in Kadarganj village near Kotdwar on the UP-Uttarakhand border. However, cops said that injury marks have been found on the tiger skin and the precision with which the skin of the tiger was removed suggests involvement of professional poachers.

SSP STF P Renuka Devi told TOI, "There are injury marks on the skin of the tiger, which is an indication that it may have been killed."

The four claimed that after removing the skin of the animal, they kept it in polythene bags and hid it in a pit in the forest area of Lalwala under Saneh police outpost of Pauri district. An STF team has left for the spot to collect evidence.

 
SOURCE : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/dehradun/Stealthy-gang-kept-tiger-skin-buried-in-pit-for-6-months-in-Pauri/articleshow/52298734.cms
 


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