13 October 2005

One tiger skin and three leopard skins were seized and two people arrested in Uttar Pradesh, near the Indo-Nepal border, on 10 October 2005. The seizure and arrests were the result of a joint operation by the staff of Dudhwa Tiger Reserve and the Shashastra Seema Bal (SSB), which guards the Indo-Nepal border.  One of the accused is a resident of Uttar Pradesh while the other is from Nepal.

The seizure is yet another instance of how wildlife crime continues to flourish in the region because of the porous Indo-Nepal border.

Meanwhile, the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) has received reports that on 11 October 2005 the Border Security Force seized a pair of ivory tusks in Tripura.

On the same day, Police and Forest officials in the Sonitpur district of Assam seized a full grown clouded leopard skin. Three people were arrested, including two tea garden workers. They had bought the skin in the Lakhimpur district of Assam, from people who were probably trying to make some quick cash before the festival season. Investigations are on.