The State Crime Branch on Wednesday took ivory smuggler Afzal Baig on a three-day remand to interrogate him further about the smuggling of elephant tusks. Baig, who hails from Odisha-Jharkhand border village Dundu, had been arrested from Rairangpur in Mayurbhanj district by the Crime Branch two days ago. Crime Branch sources said the investigating officers would grill Baig about his link with other inter-State ivory smugglers. They would also ask him about his modus operandi of the banned trade in the Similipal sanctuary.
Notably, Baig was the mastermind of smuggling of elephant tusks and pangolin shells in Sambalpur, Deogarh, Angul, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj districts. He was also involved in smuggling of firearms, drugs and other banned products to Arunachal Pradesh through the West Bengal route, police sources said.