‘DMK leader’ arrested for trying to sell ivory

In a covert operation in Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri districts of Tamil Nadu, the Mahalakshmi Layout police on Wednesday busted an ivory smuggling racket and arrested a gang of five men led by Khader Basha, who is believed to be a functionary of the DMK party. The six men are suspected of poaching elephants and other wildlife in Tamil Nadu and selling products, like tusks, in Karnataka. The police seized 12 tusks from the gang.

Acting on a tip-off, a police team posed as prospective clients and approached Naveen and Prakash who were in Bengaluru to sell elephant tusks. When the duo agreed to sell four tusks, they were promptly arrested with the poached goods.

On questioning them, the police learned that they were part of a larger gang that operated out of Krishnagiri district. “We learned that the leader of the gang was Khader Basha from Anchetty,” said the police.

On Wednesday, a special team led by Inspector B.N. Lohith went to Basha’s house in Anchetty. However, local residents tried to prevent his arrest. “Basha rallied DMK party workers in his hometown and tried to resist arrest by organising a mob,” said an officer who was part of the team.

The angry mob surrounded the police team and threatened to attack them if they did not release Basha. The team had to seek the help of their Tamil Nadu counterparts who rushed to the spot and dispersed the agitated mob.

Another team raided the houses of three of his associates — Javed, Shabarinath and Satish Kumar — in Dharmapuri district. They recovered four tusks sawed in half.

Basha and the other three accused were brought to Bengaluru and booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and also under the Wildlife Protection Act.

“Our initial probe has revealed that Basha is the kingpin of the racket. He ran a gang that would poach animals in the forests of Krishnagiri and Hosur districts,” said a senior police officer. The police are investigating if the gang has a place to illegally store wildlife products meant for sale in the black market.


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Assam: Two smugglers held with 24 ivory pieces in Guwahati

The directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI) on Sunday sleuths seized 24 pieces of ivory here while a contractual railway employee was collecting them here on Saturday.

The consignment, weighing around 5.838kg, was seized near Guwahati railway station around 1pm when Suraj Kumar Das, a coach attendant of Saraighat Express, was collecting it from Badrul Hussain in central Assam’s Hojai district.

“Interrogation of the duo revealed that Hussain picked up the packets containing the ivory from a person at Hojai for delivery to Das, who would deliver it to another person at New Jalpaiguri, for smuggling to Nepal through the border in north Bengal,” The Telegraph quoted a DRI official as saying. Das and Hussain were arrested.

Wildlife officials confirmed the tusks were extracted after killing at least five adult and sub-adult elephants, and since the ivory was sourced from Hojai, it is likely the elephants were killed in Karbi Anglong.

It is a known fact that endangered species are regularly being slaughtered for their parts, especially because of the rising demand in the international market, a DRI statement said.


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Wildlife product seizures go up 90 per cent

The seizures of wildlife products by the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) have gone up by 90 per cent till August in comparison to the seizures in 2014.

The SSB has seized products worth Rs 187.89 crore this year against Rs 2.21 crore three years ago. The SSB is tasked with guarding India’s borders with Nepal and Bhutan.

These products were seized from 93 smugglers against those caught in 2014. A major reason behind the SSB’s success in its drive against wildlife crimes was a constant watch on the smuggling of endangered species like Tokey Gecko Lizards and prohibited items like snake venom, bones and skin of tigers and leopards, elephant tusks/ivory, rhino horn and deer skin and deer meat, etc.

In the recent past, the SSB apprehended snake venom worth Rs 100 crore in West Bengal, which happens to the be the most wildlife-crime prone state with 125 cases followed by UP with 54 cases. Sources said Alipurduar in West Bengal is the main hub of the wildlife smuggling from where 98 cases had been reported followed by Bahraich (15 cases) and Balrampur (15) in UP, Udalguri (14) in Assam, Jailpaiguri (12) and Darjeeling (10) in West Bengal. The illegal trade also includes the body parts of dead animals like rhino horns, leopard skin and paw, deer horn and skull and elephant trunk.

The data assessed by this newspaper suggests that the price of the seized products has shown a massive increase to the tune of Rs 11.16 crore and Rs 46.62 crore with the arrest of 43 and 70 smugglers in 2015 and 2016, respectively. In 2017, the SSB team seized wild life products worth Rs 187.69 crore from 93 smugglers in 82 cases.

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Sashastra Seema Bal now a nemesis for wildlife smugglers

The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) has had a good run in nabbing the smugglers involved in carrying out wildlife crime. This year, SSB has seized things worth Rs 187.69 crore from 93 smugglers. These smugglers were involved in smuggling endangered species like Tokey Gecko lizards and prohibited items like snake venom, tiger and leopard skins and bones, elephant tusks/ivory, rhino horn, snake sand boa, tortoise, turtle and deer, deer skin and deer meat.

Recently, the SSB apprehended snake venom worth Rs 100 crore in West Bengal, which happens to the be the most wildlife-crime prone state with 125 cases followed by Uttar Pradesh with 54 cases.

Sources said Alipurduar in West Bengal is the main hub of wildlife smuggling from where 98 cases had been reported followed by Bahraich (15 cases) and Balrampur (15cases) in UP, Udalguri (14cases) in Assam, Jailpaiguri (12) and Darjeeling (10) in West Bengal.

Other areas of wildlife smuggling are Lakhimpur Kheri in UP and Kishanganj and West Champaran in Bihar. The illegal trade also includes body parts of dead animals like rhino horns, leopard skin and paw, deer horn and skull, rein deer skin, barking deer skin and elephant trunk.

The data shows that the price of seized products showed a massive increase to Rs11.16 crore and Rs 46.62 crore with the arrest of 43 and 70 smugglers in 2015 and 2016 respectively. In 2017, the SSB team has seized wild life products worth Rs 187.69 crore from 93 smugglers in 82 cases.

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2 arrested for smuggling 5kg ivory in UP

Two men were arrested in Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh for allegedly smuggling 5kg ivory, police said today.

The traffickers were arrested by the Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh Police, with the help of Wildlife SOS, an NGO working for animal rights, and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau.

"They were arrested while travelling in an SUV from Pratapgarh to Allahabad," Arvind Chaturvedi, Additional SP of UPs STF said.

A non-bailable warrant had been pending against one of the accused for illegally holding an elephant captive.

"It appeared that the accused chopped off the elephants tusk for ivory. The ivory has been seized," the officer said.

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Three arrested, elephant tusk recovered

The RMC Yard police have arrested three persons and recovered an elephant tusk weighing 13.5 kg from them.

The accused have been identified as A.B. Dharmanna (35), Basavanna (48) and Manja (28). The accused were caught red handed while they were waiting at the Yeshwanthpur metro station to sell the tusk to a client.

The police have taken the trio into custody and are trying to ascertain the source of the tusk.

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