Three members of a tiger poaching gang were arrested with about 12 kg of tiger bones in a joint operation conducted by the Bijnor police and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau in Uttar Pradesh. Wildlife activists in Uttarakhand suspect that the arrested members may have been poaching the big cat in the Corbett tiger landscape in neighbouring Uttarakhand. According to official sources, the WCCB regional deputy director (northern region) Nishant Verma reached Bijnor on Tuesday seeking police support in arresting the wildlife criminals.
Earlier, on May 30, the WCCB and police had arrested Badhapur (Bijnor) resident Sayeed from the jungles of Chayali village. He was arrested in relation to the case involving Haryana native Suraj Bhan alias Suraju who had been arrested in the past from Delhi with tiger pelt, bones, claws and Rs 50 lakh by the WCCB. Based on information secured from Sayeed, the WCCB and Bijnor police conducted a joint operation and arrested Badhapur resident Pappu Gujjar and seized over 4 kg tiger bones from his home. Soon after this arrest, Akhtar and Mohammed Alam were also arrested from Badhapur and about 7 kg tiger bones were seized from them.
According to the police, questioning the arrested men revealed that they used to set metal gin traps in the jungles to poach tigers. At times they used to kill buffalo calves and poison its carcass before putting it in the jungle with an intention to kill a big cat. They used to poach the tigers in order sell the pelt, claws, teeth and bones at high price in the black market. A total of about 12 kg tiger bones estimated to cost about Rs 4 lakh in the international market were seized from the three men.