At least 70 officers from the State Police and Wildlife Wing took part in the one-day workshop at Cuttack. Director General of Police (DGP) KB Singh inaugurated the workshop while Chief Wildlife Warden Sidhanta Das and four senior officers of WLCCB, including a lawyer, were present.

While the workshop focused on investigation a major thrust was prosecution since conviction rate in the State is barely about one per cent.

During the discussion, Special DG (Crime) BK Sharma pointed out that the Crime Branch which arrested notorious wildlife smuggler Afzal Baig in December 2014 managed to submit so much evidence against him that it him more than a year and eight months to secure bail.

Sharma said a major deterrence for poaching and smuggling could be to identify the key offenders, arrest them and pursue their cases in the court with solid evidence.

A major thrust of the workshop was also to monitor rampant poaching and smuggling of smaller species because these offenders escape notice when the Government enforcement agencies are too focused on flagship bigger species like elephant. Pangolin smuggling from Rairakhol, snake trading of snake skin as well as tortoises from Puri remain areas of concern which need concentrated action.

Chief Wildlife Warden Das said the Wildlife Wing will soon depute a range officer to the Wildlife Crime Cell which has been created at the Crime Branch for its effective functioning. Despite vacancies in various ranks, efforts are on to curb poaching and smuggling, he said.