West Bengal: Found with tiger skin, three held for links with ‘poaching racket’

The Indian Express , Friday, December 16, 2016
Correspondent :
Three accused were arrested by the forest department Wednesday for their alleged connection to a poaching racket which smuggles tiger skins to Bhutan, police said on Thursday. Police said a small piece of Royal Bengal tiger skin, which was allegedly taken by the gang members as a sample, has been seized by the department. According to sources, the alleged smugglers were arrested from Hasimara in Alipurduar near Subhasani Tea Estate on NH-31. The arrested have been identified as MouriNarjinary, Nikhil Basumata and BimanEichlari. All the accused are residents of Chirang district in Assam.

The vehicle in which they were travelling was also seized by officials. Sources said they were heading towards the Indo-Bhutan border through Jaigaon. Earlier, four members of a gang who were hunting in Dooars had been arrested with an AK-47 rifle, and during interrogation, they had mentioned the names of the current accused.

Following this, officials started monitoring their movements. The accused were arrested after the forest department received information about a planned meet. Police sources said the accused are apparently members of the same smuggling racket whose kingpin — Sunil Narjinary — was recently arrested by Alipurduar police.

“We had earlier arrested Sunil Narjinary, the kingpin of this racket. The three accused were nabbed by forest department. Hopefully his other associates will also be traced out soon”, Alipurduar SP A Rabindranath told The Indian Express. In the meantime, the case was handed over to the CID. Wildlife officials suspect that the skin sample is of a Royal Bengal tiger mostly found in the Sundarbans in South Bengal. “The accused have been remanded to three days in custody,” said an official.

 
SOURCE : http://indianexpress.com/article/india/west-bengal-found-with-tiger-skin-three-held-for-links-with-poaching-racket-4429164/
 


Back to pevious page



The NetworkAbout Us  |  Our Partners  |  Concepts   
Resources :  Databases  |  Publications  |  Media Guide  |  Suggested Links
Happenings :  News  |  Events  |  Opinion Polls  |  Case Studies
Contact :  Guest Book  |  FAQs |  Email Us