The team arrested the kingpin, Mohan Majhi, his two associates and Sarfaraz, who acted as middleman. They were rounded up from Bakula, a peripheral village of STR.
During interrogation, the wildlife officials found out an inter-state smuggling racket with networks ranging from Orissa and West Bengal to Gujarat. “There is information that the body parts of the poached jumbos may have been routed through Kolkata to Ahmedabad," sources said. According to a WCCB study, Ahmedabad is the hub of illegal wildlife trade.
Sources said Mohan was responsible for removal of the tushes and handing it over to Sarfaraz, who belonged to the same village. Although the tushes could not be recovered, the STR-WCCB team has found out vital leads.
Basing on intelligence inputs, the team cracked down on Bakula, where Mohan was arrested along with two others who had helped him in removal of the tushes. The wildlife officials suspect that Mohan could also be behind the poisoning of the three pachyderms. “From the interrogation, it was clear that he has links with various groups for whom he worked on contract basis," sources added.
However, Sarfaraz did not dispose of the tushes himself. He is believed to have passed them on to another person, Allauddin, who sold them off. By the time the team went after Allauddin, he had fled. Read the full report here.
Source: Express News Service, The New Indian Express, IBN Live, Bhubaneswar.
