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Two caught with rhino horn, bear gall bladders
KATHMANDU, AUG 09 -
Police arrested two members of a rhino horn smuggling racket with one rhino horn and two bear gall bladders from Nilopul in the Capital on Sunday evening.
Acting on a tip-off, a special police squad in plainclothes, pretending to be prospective buyers of animal organs, tracked down the duo—identified as Mingmar Tamang, 27, of Rasuwa and his friend Kabod Gurung, 18, of Mustang—and confiscated the rhino horn (1.278 kg) and bear gall bladders (396 grams).
Deputy Superintendent of Police Deepak Thapa, in-charge at the Metropolitan Police Sector Maharajgunj, said the smugglers tried to sell the rhino horn for up to Rs. 3.2 million per kg and the bear gall-bladder for up to Rs. 25,000 per gram.
“A preliminary investigation indicates that the rhino horn and gall bladders were destined for use in traditional medicines in China,” said Thapa. He said Tamang may have been a henchman of a notorious poaching syndicate that kills rhinos and bears in wildlife sanctuaries and segregates the organs for smuggling to China and other South Asian countries.
The duo, after identifying prospective buyers as police, even tried to hoodwink them by saying the confiscated parts were not genuine. Police later sought the help of the Department of Parks and Wildlife Conservation that found the horn was genuine. Thapa said the duo will be handed over to the Kathmandu District Forest Office.
Police believe that the illegal animal organs trade is staggering and it is the high profit that lures people into the trade. The country is home to approximately 435 one-horned rhinos that remain under constant threat of being killed for their horns.
Posted on: 2010-08-10 08:55
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