BHUBANESWAR: In a key breakthrough, a special team of Nayagarh forest and Mahanadi wildlife divisions busted an ivory smuggling racket and arrested six persons including its kingpin Abdul Salim Khan on Thursday.
A well-planned investigation by the team under the direct supervision of PCCF (wildlife) Susanta Nanda led to the arrest of the six from whose possession two tusks were recovered during the exercise that lasted two days.
After the Nayagarh forest division found carcass of a tusk-less elephant in Baisipalli extension-II protected reserve forest (PRF) of Daspalla range on Wednesday, it ascertained that the jumbo had been electrocuted and its tusks removed.
Soon a special team involving Nayagarh and Mahanadi wildlife divisions, under the guidance of the PCCF wildlife, was formed and a manhunt was launched to nab the accused based on local information and ground-level intelligence.
“One of the accused who had set the trap in the PRF for bushmeat hunting was arrested. Subsequently, five other persons including the kingpin and those smuggling the tusks of the elephant were arrested along with the buyer,” said Nayagarh DFO Kshama Sarangi.
Nanda appreciated the efforts of field staff of the two divisions who acted swiftly to crack the case without any rest for 48 hours.
Interestingly, Khan was arrested in 2007 by a joint team of the Crime Branch (CB) and Forest department of which Nanda himself was a part. The smuggler was wanted in a case of ivory smuggling by the CB-CID and a team led by the then IG BK Sharma and Nanda, who was DFO Satkosia, had apprehended Khan.
The other five accused were identified as Sanatan Naik, Satrughna Sinha, Tushar Ghanta, Sumanta Ghanta and Santosh Naik. They are all said to be natives of Gania and Daspalla area of Nayagarh district.
After the arrest, sources said, clues regarding elephant poaching for ivory smuggling in the area in the last few years are getting unearthed. Further investigation into the matter is on to find out the involvement of others.