Gang of tiger poachers from Haryana caught in Maharashtra

Gadchiroli (IANS). In a major multi-state operation, the Maharashtra Forest Department has arrested 11 people, including 5 women, and detained 5 minors, who were allegedly involved in a multi-state tiger poaching racket, officials said on Monday.

The gang was busted when a tip-off from the Assam Wildlife Department was passed on to the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, New Delhi, which in turn alerted the Maharashtra Forest officials.

Assam police and wildlife officials arrested three people from Haryana on June 28 on charges of illegal possession of tiger skins coming from Maharashtra.

After questioning them, the accused disclosed about an alleged nationwide racket of tiger poaching, which was allegedly being carried out by poachers from the Bavaria community through their gangs.

After receiving an alert from the WCCB, Maharashtra forest officials formed a special task force headed by top official, Jitendra Ramgaonkar, comprising officials from various tiger reserves, and launched an investigation into the matter a few days back.

After sustained covert operations, the STF finally raided a location in Ambe-Shivani area on the outskirts of Gadchiroli city and managed to nab a gang of 16 people, including 6 men, 5 women and 5 minors, on Sunday morning.

The STF has recovered three tiger claws, seven steel jaw traps and other weapons used to kill tigers, Rs 46,000 in cash, mobiles and other material from the gang, which has been living in the Ambe-Shivni area since a year.

Some of the accused have been nabbed from Dhule and Karimnagar in Telangana and all have been booked under various provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and other laws.

The entire operation was directed by Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Maheep Gupta and other senior officers such as Jyoti Banerjee, Ramesh Kumar, Ravindrasinh Pardeshi, Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police Nilotpal and other wildlife and police officers.

Investigators suspect that this inter-state gang may have poached around 10 tigers, and this is believed to be the biggest successful anti-poaching drive in the last 10 years, and further investigation is underway to nab other associates who may be active in different states.