Updated: Sun, Dec 7, 2025 18:44 (IST) Yangchen Lachungpa and his associate were arrested from Sikkim near the India-China border. They were smuggling tiger parts to an international gang. Yangchen’s … read more Digital Desk, Bhopal. Arrested from Sikkim near the India-China border, Yangchen Lachungpa and his associate Jai Tamang ran an international gang of tiger parts smuggling. The diary recovered from 43-year-old Yangchen, a native of Lachung village near Gangtok, Sikkim, which borders China, will reveal the secrets of the people connected with the poaching. It contains important information about financial transactions, international contacts and the entire network of the smuggling gang in code language. Yangchen, who is wanted by Interpol, has been on the run for 10 years. Remove Advertisement Only Read News It is noteworthy that the joint team of Madhya Pradesh State Tiger Strike Force (STSF) and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WLCCB) arrested him on December 2 near the border of China in very difficult geographical conditions of minus seven degree temperature. He was brought to Bhopal in transit custody and is being questioned in the case of poaching of tigers and pangolins in Satpura Tiger Reserve. Also Read- ‘Jugni’ tigress spotted with five cubs in LP’s Pench Tiger Reserve, excited tourists made video. Yangchen’s entire gang also worked at the local level. Yangchen was first arrested in September 2017 but fled after being granted bail. After his arrest, Jai Tamang is now being searched. He was also arrested in a poaching case in 2015, but after being released, he fled abroad. Yangchen Lachungpa is reported to be the first wife of Jai Tamang. Tamang’s confession years ago revealed Yangchen as a key architect of the smuggling for the first time. 27 of Yangchen’s gang were found guilty. In the year 2022, the Narmadapuram court of Madhya Pradesh convicted 27 out of 31 arrested accused in the poaching case. However, the decision on Yangchen is pending as he is in the process of escaping. Yangchen is an important link in the international network of tiger smuggling. She was identified as a key member of an organized human trafficking network with links to poachers and middlemen in the illegal wildlife trade spanning Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan. The gang operated in several Indian cities, including Delhi, Siliguri, Gangtok, Kolkata, Kanpur, Itarsi and Hoshangabad (now Narmadapuram). Accused of hunting tigers and pangolins and smuggling body parts. In July 2015, a case was registered against a gang involved in hunting tigers and pangolin in the Kamti range of Satpura Tiger Reserve and smuggling tiger bones and pangolin skin to China through Nepal. Yangchen was wanted in this. Earlier in the year 2013, Nepal Police caught five tiger skins and seven bags of bones while going to Tibet, later DNA test confirmed that one skin is that of tiger T-13 from Pench Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh. Again in 2015, the authorities seized eight tiger skins, which were also believed to have come from tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh. The arrest was a difficult challenge in the extreme cold and darkness. STSF and WLCCB teams were searching for Yangchen in the snowy area. During this time, once the radio messages stopped and the torchlight dimmed in the extreme cold and darkness, Yangchen was besieged and captured. The villagers used to block the only way out. Yangchen allegedly tried to destroy two mobile phones and an encrypted diary containing names, routes and hawala references before the arrest was completed.