The skin of a tigress valued at over INR 5 crore has been seized by Pune and Nagpur Customs officers during a joint operation. The woman was trying to smuggle the skin by hiding it beneath her saree to market it to customers abroad.
Six people were detained on Friday, July 26, including the woman and the alleged leader of the wildlife smuggling organisation. The operation took place in the Jalgaon area.
In a forest near the border between Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, the tigress was mercilessly poached, poisoned, and drowned.
Pune Customs officers explained that the action resulted from their close monitoring of a syndicate led by a Madhya Pradesh’s resident - Mohammad Athar (58), their suspect.
Mohammad Athar initially came under their notice in August of last year. Yashodhan Wanage, Commissioner of Customs for Pune, stated that they had seized a leopard skin worth INR 1 crore as part of an action in Satara in August of last year. At the time, they had only detained one person. On enquiring more about this matter the officials discovered that the skin was being smuggled and their goal was to sell it to customers staying in foreign land.
During that operation, Muhammad Athar’s name had come to light due to his involvement in wildlife trafficking. Yashodhan Wanage said they closely monitored the syndicate that Athar was a member of.
The Commissioner further added that they learnt last month that a tiger trophy - the skin of a tiger thought to have been slain in the 1970s - was being transported from Madhya Pradesh to Pune for sale by a syndicate. In Pune last month, we intercepted and recovered the tiger trophy, which is estimated to be worth INR 2 crore.
He said that they also detained two people in the process. Since their team was concentrating on more important leads, they refrained from providing the media with specifics about the activity. He said that they have now recovered the skin of a recently killed tiger, estimated to be worth INR 5 crore, after the intelligence was further enhanced. Six people have been taken into custody as a result of the July 26 activity in Jalgaon.
Ajvar Sujat Bhosale (35), Rahim Pardhi (45), Teva Bai Pardhi (40), Kakana Bai (30), Nadim Shaikh (26) and Athar were on the suspect list and have been arrested.
A preliminary investigation indicates the skin seized in Jalgaon is of a mature tigress aged between four and five years, a customs officer stated.
According to the probe, antelope carcasses that had been murdered and half consumed by the tigress were discovered by poachers initially. It is thought that the poachers used a chemical to poison the carcass after that. The tigress was poisoned when she returned to finish eating the carcass. The investigation implies that the tigress did not pass away right away. After tracking it down, the poachers drowned her in a stream to kill her. According to Probe, this incident occurred in a forested location near the boundary between Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra about 45 days ago.
The customs official said that their team went to the location in the forest where the animal was killed and its hide was removed. The additional tiger body parts that they have recovered are also highly valued on the global black market.
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