Chamba again! Wildlife racket busted, snakes, claws seized

Naresh Thakur

Chamba, May 28

In the third such operation in recent days, the Chamba Forest Department has busted a wildlife smuggling gang with the arrest of four persons. A large quantity body parts of wild animals was seized from arrested persons at Tunuhatti forest check-post on the Himachal-Punjab border, 25 km from Dalhousie town, on Monday.

Dalhousie Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Rajneesh Mahajan said the seizure include 25 ‘siyar singhi’, eight pairs of monitor lizard hemipenes, 13 monitor lizard claws, four snake skulls, eight snake vertebrae, 11 porcupine quills and one shell of a flap shell turtle. Besides, a box of snake skin, 49 civet claws and two live snakes —a spectacled cobra and an Indian sand boa — were recovered from their possession.

The recovered items are reportedly used in black magic rituals and are highly prized.

Among those arrested, four hail from Jassur near Nurpur town in Kangra district and two are from Ludhiana of Punjab, Mahajan said.

They were apprehended on way to Chamba on two bikes during a routine checking. The accused had been booked under the provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and were produced before a local court, which sent them to three-day remand, he said.

Chamba Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) Abhilash Damodran said, “Our teams have been working tirelessly to track and apprehend those involved in wildlife smuggling. We have increased vigil on all check-posts on the inter-state borders, besides routine patrolling,” said Damodran. He said the recovery of such a diverse array of animal parts indicated the involvement of a well-organised gang.

“The arrested persons are under interrogation and we are trying to unravel their links,” added Damodran.

Earlier this month, the Chamba forest officials had busted two gangs of wildlife smugglers operating in Chamba town and famous tourist destination of Khajjiar and recovered a huge cache of animal body parts including musk pods, Siyar Singhi, jackal nails, hemipenes and claws of monitor lizards etc.

Damodran said the gangs usually operated in a specific area when the tourist season was on peak as they targeted unsuspecting tourists by convincing them these animal parts can rid them of their problems like family issues, court and money matters. These items are sold from few hundred to thousands of rupees.

Urging public to report any suspicious activity related to the wildlife smuggling, Damodran said people should understand that possessing these things did not have any effect on their lives, but only disturbed the ecological balance.