Rhino poaching fails in Kaziranga, Assam, three arrested

Guwahati, October 16 (IANS). Security forces in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (KNPTR) on Thursday foiled a rhino poaching attempt and arrested three poachers. Sonali Ghosh, director of the KNPTR, said the rhino poaching attempt was successfully foiled in a joint operation conducted by Biswanath police along with Majuli police and Lakhimpur police under the leadership of Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) (Crime), Biswanath and Additional Superintendent of Police (Headquarters). Security personnel arrested three suspected armed raiders. The poachers have been identified as Muhikant Pegu (4), Manuj Pathari (38) and Kiran Pegu (41). Ghosh said based on information received from the arrested accused, one .303 rifle and nine 70 mm 12 bore cartridges were recovered from the house of Debjit Pegu in New Dandi village in Vishwanath district. Debjit Pegu is still absconding. A case has been registered in this regard and investigation is being conducted under the supervision of ASP (Crime) Biswanath. Meanwhile, a suspected poacher was shot dead on October 15 during a shootout with forest guards at KNPTR, India’s seventh UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to officials, based on intelligence on the movement of armed poachers within the park, all anti-poaching camps have been alerted to conduct searches and seal possible exit and entry routes. A river patrol team from Burapahar range spotted a light source of an unidentified object at Meite Tapu and observed activities of a group of armed poachers. When asked to stop, the hunters became aggressive and started shooting at the forest guard, after which the forest guard returned fire. Later, during a search in the forest area, the body of the murdered hunter was recovered. –IANS PSK Share this story Tags