Guwahati: Wildlife smugglers have allegedly carried out smuggling activities at Nameri National Park in Assam’s Sonitpur district under the nose of top forest officials.
The arrest of two smugglers for their involvement in the poaching of a Royal Bengal tiger in the national park suggested they were able to carry out their activities for a long period of time without being detected by forest officials.
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The arrested wildlife smugglers, Ghan Basumatary and Bergo Daimary are alleged to have built houses near the spot where the Royal Bengal tiger was killed inside the Nameri National Park.
Sources said they have also confessed to killing several other wild animals in the national park, including hog deer and pangolin.
“They developed extensive networks to transport wildlife body parts to different parts of the world, including China and Myanmar,” said a source.
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The incident came to light after Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials arrested three smugglers with the tiger’s body parts near Itakhola in Sonitpur district along the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh border on July 8.
Following the seizure, Forest officials with Assam police carried out an operation and recovered a handmade gun from the house of one of the accused, but the smuggler managed to flee that day.
The joint team of forest and police officials eventually arrested Basumatary and Daimary from the Delaisri area along the Arunachal Pradesh border on Wednesday night.
Forest officials said that three middlemen in connection with the seizure were arrested by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) while two others were absconding.
Also read: Assam: Is Royal Bengal tiger rescued from Guwahati killed at Nameri National Park? Forest dept silent!
The killed Royal Bengal tiger was rescued from Umananda Island in Guwahati last year and released in Nameri National Park on December 25.
Meanwhile, wildlife activists have slammed the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Western Assam Wildlife Division for allegedly allowing poachers to build houses inside the park and poach wild animals.
“The fact that wildlife smugglers are able to operate in Nameri National Park under the nose of the DFO and other forest officials is a serious indictment of the park’s security measures. It also raises questions about the effectiveness of the DFO in combating wildlife crime,” said a wildlife activist requesting anonymity.