(IN): Contraband ivory seized from airport cargo centre

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http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070420/asp/guwahati/story_7671388.asp

 

Contraband ivory seized from airport cargo centre

 

A STAFF REPORTER

Guwahati, April 19: Police confiscated a consignment of ivory from

the cargo collection centre of Jet Airways near Lokapriya Gopinath

Bordoloi International Airport today.

 

Additional superintendent of police (city) Rajen Singh said elephant

tusk weighing 1.8 kg was found inside a carton booked on a Calcutta-

bound Jet Airways flight this morning.

 

According to a source in the state forest department, elephant tusks

are in great demand in the international market, where a kilogram of

ivory is worth at least $1,000.

 

The police have apprehended two persons in connection with the heist.

 

The accused were identified as Bikram Das and Mahabir Sharma. Sharma

is the manager of Good Luck Courier Service while Das is an employee

of Maruti Cargo Forwarder.

 

The office of Good Luck Courier is located on A.T. Road in Athgaon

and that of Maruti Cargo Forwarder is in Paltan Bazar.

 

Police said the parcel containing ivory was routed from Tinsukia to

Guwahati through these two couriers. From here, it was supposed to be

flown to Calcutta.

 

A case has been registered at Azara police station under the Indian

Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

 

An officer of Azara police station said the " sender " was Mohammad

Aziz of Hijuguri in Tinsukia town. It was supposed to be received by

one A. Ullah of 37, Zakaria Street in Calcutta.

 

" The ivory was booked as a consignment of documents on the Calcutta-

bound flight. But the elephant tusk was detected during screening of

the cargo. It had been concealed under pieces of cotton in the

carton, " the police source said.

 

The tusk sample will be sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory at

Kahilipara for examination. " We will also take the help of the forest

department for conducting further investigation into the case, " the

source added.

 

The police have also stepped up efforts to track down the consignor

and consignee of the contraband.

 

" We suspect that a well-organised racket of smugglers and poachers

may be involved in this illegal trade. The arrest of the sender and

intended recipient are key aspects for further investigation into the

case, " the police source explained.

 

Since the consignment has originated from Tinsukia, the police

believe that the tusk may have been of an elephant poached in a

forest somewhere in either Upper Assam or Arunachal Pradesh.

 

" A gang of poachers from Assam was found to be involved in killing

elephants in Uttarakhand forests some years ago. The gang used to

smuggle the ivory to Nepal, from where these items found their way to

the international market, " he said.

 

" In India, the most active collection areas for raw ivory are Orissa,

Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal and the most active markets for

worked ivory are Murshidabad in West Bengal, Jaipur and Udaipur in

Rajasthan and Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, " he added.