Five poachers arrested, contraband wildlife parts seized

Five poachers were arrested and huge quantities of body parts of wild animals seized from different areas in and around Kaziranga National Park, a police official said on Wednesday.

Acting on a specific input regarding the presence of poachers in Kaziranga, an operation team of Special Task Force (STF), Assam, proceeded from Guwahati to Kaliabor in Nagaon district on Tuesday.

The STF team was accompanied by a team from the Wildlife Crime Control Board (WCCB), Assam unit, and a joint operation was carried out at various places under Jakhalabandha police station and Kaliabor police station of Nagaon district.

The arrested poachers have been identified as Md. Gafar Qureshi, Md. Okil Qureshi, Md. Safiqul Islam, Ujjal Bharali and Aditya Sarma.

The operation team seized 12 ivory (elephant tusks), two tiger canines, 15 rhino hooves, one deer antler, 1kg of pangolin scale and five mobile phones from their possession.

The STF team handed over the poachers to Jakhalabandha police for further investigation. A case has been registered at Jakhalabandha police station under various sections of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.