Foreign poachers caught in India

Chinese and Myanmar duo reveal a foreign link in the crime to get rhino horns, elephant tusks and bear bile, confirming conservationists' fears

By Rahul Karmakar
IN GUWAHATI

CONSERVATIONISTS have always suspected the 'foreign hand' behind wildlife crimes in north-east India, a critical bio-diversity zone.

Their hunch was confirmed last week when two foreign nationals were caught smuggling out rare animal parts.

They have been arrested by the Namsai police in the country's eastern most state of Arunachal Pradesh, bordering China and Myanmar.

Interrogation of Chinese national Liu Cheng and Myanmar national Afu Fundren revealed that they were part of a well-organised gang numbering more than a dozen.

They had been sneaking into India at a point near the China-Myanmar-Arunachal Pradesh trijunction, often aided by local Yobin or Lesho tribes in the difficult border areas.

The Yobins, scattered on either side of the India-Myanmar border, are notorious for poaching with improvised poison-tipped missiles.

Their services have been used by more organised wildlife traders in southern and northern India.

The recent killing of several elephants in Corbett National Park in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is a prime example.

According to Mr Ratan Nath, officer-in-charge of the Namsai police station, Cheng and Fundren injured three policemen with iron rods before they could be nabbed.

Three otter skins and 15 pairs of serow horns were recovered from them.

The serow is a rare mountain goat endemic to north-east India.

Cheng admitted that he and his men were frequent 'visitors' to Arunachal Pradesh and the adjoining Assam state.

They often employed local poachers who worked on a 10 to 25 per cent commission basis to collect rhino horn, elephant tusk, bear bile and other animal products.

The Chinese national revealed that all north-east consignments were offloaded at two wildlife parts centres in China, including Kunming.

Said Mr Soumyadeep Dutta, director of green group Nature's Beckon: 'The cross-border poachers largely manage to be elusive thanks to a strong network of abettors among villagers who are assured of an income throughout the year.'

Going by Cheng's and Fundren's statements, a live python smuggled through the Myanmar-China-Thailand route fetches US$800 (S$1,450) in the US, while it can be sold for US$2,000 in Europe and for much more in Japan.

Otter skin, much in demand in the international market, fetches more than US$650 in Thailand.

Serow horns and dried monkey meat (hoolock gibbon and capped langur in particular) are also highly valued in China for their supposed medicinal values.

'This could explain the sharp decrease in the primate population in the north-east,' Mr Dutta said.