1 November 2006

The West Bengal Forest Department seized one rhino horn, two pieces of ivory and two swamp deer skins from two men on the Torsa River Bridge, on the night of 27 October 2006.

Led by Range Officer Jayanta Mondal, a team of forest officials acted as decoy buyers to arrest the two wildlife traders who are residents of Alipurduar. During interrogation, the men claimed to have sourced the articles from Manas, in the neighbouring state of Assam. They are now in judicial custody for further investigation.

Worryingly, there have been two other important wildlife seizures from the same region this year. On 14 July, 1 full tiger skeleton, 16 kg rhino skins and 4 leopard skins were seized from known wildlife trader Ratiram Sharma. On 25 July, Ratiram’s son was arrested with 1 tiger skin and 3 leopard skins while trying to flee India across the Bhutan border.

In the meanwhile, Nepal has reported three rhino deaths in the last two weeks, the most recent one being an electrocution case near Chitwan National Park.