(IN): Poacher trail points to Assam- Gang dealing in timber & animal hides buste

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Poacher trail points to Assam

- Gang dealing in timber & animal hides busted

ATONU CHOUDHURI

 

Itanagar, April 22: Investigation into Friday's encounter that left a

forest official and two poachers dead inside Pakke tiger reserve, 40

km from Seijosa under East Kameng district in Arunachal Pradesh, seems

to be leading towards Assam.

 

Forest officials suspect that one of the poachers may have been from

neighbouring Assam. Two senior forest officers who rushed to the

reserve on Friday, are investigating the case and will submit a

detailed report soon. " We are yet to ascertain the identity of the

deceased poachers, but primary investigations reveal that one of them

is an outsider. We assume him to be from Assam going by his looks. We

are waiting for the inquiry to be completed, " principal chief

conservator of forest and chief wildlife warden K.D. Singh said yesterday.

 

Tana Tapi, divisional forest officer, Pakke tiger reserve, said that

during a search operation at the reserve forest, an anti-poaching

squad spotted a four-member gang of poachers. On being challenged by

the force, the poachers began firing.

 

A staff of the squad, P.D. Majhi, and two unidentified poachers were

killed in the encounter. Two other members of the gang, however,

managed to escape taking advantage of the thick forest cover. The

bodies of the poachers were recovered from the forest by a joint team

of police and forest officials today. A double barrel gun was also

found at the spot.

 

Singh said the duo was believed to be part of a gang involved in

transporting timber, wild animal skins and skeletons from Arunachal

Pradesh through the forest areas of East Kameng district to

neighbouring Assam. " We will try to get to the root of this network.

This is the first incident in which poachers have been killed in an

encounter in Arunachal Pradesh, " Singh said.

 

The Pakke reserve is home to the Royal Bengal Tiger, common leopard

and clouded leopard. According to the census conducted in 2004, the

Pakke reserve has 12 tigers.

 

Sources said that Arunachal Pradesh has become a safe haven for

poachers from neighbouring Assam. They are said to be active in two

tiger reserves of the state — Namdapha, located in Changlang district

and Pakke tiger reserve.

 

Security in tiger reserves throughout the country was tightened after

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pressed the panic button last year

following incidents of poaching in Sariska and Ranathambore reserve

forests in Rajasthan.

 

Yesterday's encounter will serve to review the security scenario in

the state as well, a source in the forest department said.