Poaching attempt foiled near Kaziranga, 2 arrested

GUWAHATI: Police and forest officials arrested two men from

Kamargaon

in Golaghat district’s

Bokakhat

area while they were attempting to kill a rhino in

Kaziranga National Park

on Thursday.

The poachers were identified as Joseph Hangal from Manipur and Digen Pegu. Park officials said an AK-56 was seized from the duo. Hangal, a sharpshooter, had been specially brought down to the state by a local poachers’ gang to gun down rhinos in the Agoratoli Range of Kaziranga, park officials added.

Interrogation of the poachers has begun. Park officials said the timing of the poaching attempt is not surprising. “Generally, poachers look for festive seasons as opportunities to sneak into the park to kill rhinos. But we have stepped up vigilance and activated undercover informers on the movement of poachers,” one of the officials said.

The latest arrest of poachers with an automatic rifle came barely 10 days after another poacher, Jiyaur Rahman, was arrested along with an AK-47 rifle from

Ghiladharimukh

village in the Sootea area of Biswanath.

Located about 250 km from here, Kaziranga is home to 2,000-odd rhinos. The animals are under constant threat from poachers who hunt them for the horn, which are smuggled through the porous IndiaMyanmar international border in the northeast for sale in Vietnam and China.

A thriving racket of rhino horns in the northeast is engaged in smuggling out the body part, which is in demand for use in traditional medicines in Vietnam and China.

However, park officials are increasingly worried about the growing nexus between militants and poachers in wildlife crime. According to the officials, frequent seizures of automatic rifles from poachers who are arrested is an indication of their growing nexus with militants, who often look for ways to make fast money out of the clandestine trade in rhino horn.

Wildlife crime experts said poachers usually prefer.303 rifles for killing rhinos, but the fad for possessing automatic firearms, especially AK rifles, has more to do with self-protection. “A .303 rifle for a sharpshooter in poachers’ gang is an ideal firearm to gun down a rhino. The reason behind going for automatic rifles by poachers is only to protect themselves from forest guards in case a gang is caught in a crossfire,” a wildlife crime expert said.

In June this year, several poachers including Mujibur Ali and Jakir Hussain of Dalgaon in Darrang district were arrested with one AK-56 rifle, one .303 rifle, a silencer and ammunition.

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