Pangolin scales, claws seized; Hornbill rescued in Bengal in back-to-back raids
While carrying out raids on wildlife smugglers, the detective department of the Kolkata Police and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) of the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change on Sunday seized more than three kilograms of pangolin scales and 38 pangolin claws from central Kolkata, police said
While carrying out raids on wildlife smugglers, the detective department of the Kolkata Police and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) of the Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change on Sunday seized more than three kilograms of pangolin scales and 38 pangolin claws from central Kolkata, police said.
Murli Dhar Sharma, joint commissioner of police (crime), said officers of the joint team intercepted a bus on Bentinck Street and seized the pangolin parts from two men, Satish Kumar Chauhan, 37, a resident of West Burdwan district and Basant Kumar Sahoo, 35, a Kolkata resident. Both were arrested.
A case under Sections 51, 57A, 9, 39, 44, 49B and 49C of Schedule 1 of the Wild Life Protection Act 1972, was registered against the accused. They were produced before a court in Kolkata.
Agni Mitra, deputy director, WCCB (eastern region), said on July 6, the WCCB and the state forest department officers intercepted a motorcycle in the Haroa area of North 24 Parganas district. Two men were arrested and a live Hornbill was seized from their possession.
The recent arrests indicate that wildlife smugglers have become active again after lying low during the Covid-19 pandemic, police officers said.
In January 2019, more than 1,700 Indian flap-shelled turtles were seized in back-to-back raids in Bengal while these were being smuggled in from Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. The raids resulted in the fourth seizure of endangered freshwater turtles in Bengal since October 2018.
There is a demand for turtle meat in parts of Bengal and also in Bangladesh.