Guwahati: Five suspected smugglers were arrested on Friday with rhino horns, elephant tusks, and tiger bones by the officials of the Manas National Park (MNP) in Assam‘s Baksa district.
MNP field director Rajen Choudhury said the five individuals were detained along with the animal body parts. They have been booked under the Wildlife Protection Act, he said.
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Choudhary said that the accused were handed over to the police, where they confessed during interrogation that they were involved in the killing of two rhinos at the Manas National Park this year.
“They stayed inside the park for six days and killed rhinos and other wildlife animals. They later sold the rhino horn,” an official said.
“All are residents of the surrounding areas of the park and we suspect that they killed these animals in the past few months. They were planning to sell the bones somewhere outside the state,” HT quoted Choudhury as saying.
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This is the latest in a series of wildlife smuggling busts in Assam in recent months. In the second week of August, four suspected poachers were arrested near the India-Bhutan border.
Demanding strong actions to protect the wildlife in Manas National Park and Tiger Reserve in Assam, local people recently launched massive protests.
They also urged the park authorities to punish the guilty and inefficient forest officials who failed to perform their duties because of which many animals fell prey to poachers in the last few months.
The Greater Manas Conservation and Tourism Development Society, a local orgnaisation had alleged that in a few months, a number of tigers, elephants, wild buffalo, deer and pygmy hogs were killed by the poachers.
The orgnisation apprehended that some forest officials might have been involved in these killings.