Mumbai: The Mumbai zonal unit of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) intercepted a wildlife trafficking gang, detaining an operative and seizing from his possession 781 Bengal Monitor Lizard Hemipenes and 19.6 kilogram of sentimental corals, protected below Schedule–I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, which he was trying to promote illegally at an inside location of Nashik on Saturday.
The traffickers are suspected of buying and selling the lizard’s reproductive organs as fortunate charms, resulting in the animals’ merciless demise. Additionally, the smooth corals seized are reportedly utilised in cement industries and jewelry making. The DRI initiated the operation upon receiving intelligence a few wildlife trafficking gang specialising in promoting Bengal Monitor Lizard Hemipenes and smooth corals.
Upon receiving the intelligence, a staff of officers from DRI Mumbai arrange a lure for the traffickers. Despite their cautious strategy, the traffickers contacted potential consumers, who had been intently monitored by the company, and organized to fulfill at Nandagaon railway station in Nashik. The suspected trafficker constantly modified areas for the potential commerce for round three hours, trying to evade surveillance by any authority. Eventually, the alleged trafficker selected a tribal hamlet in inside Nashik, located in a barren and harsh terrain characterised by thorny scrubland. This location provided no access for four-wheelers and supplied a bonus in recognizing any hostile actions from a distance, in keeping with company sources.
The trafficker additionally employed as much as 4 bike-borne reconnaissance patrol teams that stored surveying the realm the place the commerce was to take place, the sources mentioned. The DRI staff tried to flee the surveillance measures of the trafficker by displaying blue flags on their car to mix in with a number of different automobiles that displayed the same-coloured flags in view of the Ambedkar Jayanti celebrations on April 14, company sources mentioned.
When the trafficker arrived with the contraband, the DRI staff tried to encircle him however was thwarted by a motorbike patrol group, alerting the trafficker. “In no time, the team was surrounded by 30-odd tribals who started pelting stones at the officers. Using this opportunity, the trafficker and his associates tried to run away with the contraband,” a DRI supply mentioned. The DRI officers nevertheless chased the trafficker on foot for about 500 meters and nabbed him.
The seized wildlife articles and the detained trafficker had been handed over to Maharashtra State Forest officers for additional motion below the Wildlife Protection Act.
