Poachers, smugglers across Tripura having a field day during lockdown

A CORRESPONDENT

AGARTALA: When life has turned morbid due to the prolonged lockdown to defeat coronavirus, a section of people seem to have taken it as an opportunity to kill and smuggle the wild animals and birds. Apart from the wildlife poachers, the wood smugglers are also considering the lockdown period as an ideal time. Reports have been received from different areas like Amarpur, Khowai, Kalyanpur and Ambassa that largescale cutting and smuggling of wood are going on. Recently, a police team detained members of two wood smuggling groups at Amarpur and Kalyanpur areas. Sources have informed that it is just the tip of the iceberg.

After the killing of six pythons in the Jampui Hills of North Tripura and a monkey at Shantir Bazar of South Tripura, the latest report came from Agartala itself when a group of animal lovers detained a person who was trying to sell parrots and myna birds to a local shop owner. Acting on a tipoff, the animal lovers group laid a trap in a local shop dealing with pets of various kinds. As informed, a youth Posing as a customer Das entered the shop with two cages. While one of the cages was having 12 Indian Ringneck parrots, the other caged three mynas.

However, the baffled youth tried to flee when he realized that he has stepped into a trap. But the animal activists immediately detained him, and informed the Forest officials who rushed to the spot and registered a case against the accused identified, as Ratnadip Das, under Wildlife Protection Act 1972.

During interrogation, Ratnadip divulged that he hails from the Ranir Bazar area on the eastern outskirts of Agartala. He further told the Forest officials that one Rejjak, a resident of Teliamura, is the main poacher who collects birds from forests and hands over the captive wild beings to Ratnadip and some other agents, who in turn sell these in different places especially through the people who are having outlets on pets. 

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