Asansol: The West Bengal forest department has seized antlers of an endangered species of deer 'Sambar' and pangolin scales from Asansol and two persons were arrested.
Officials said timely intervention of the forest department helped in recovering 11 antlers and seven scales that were being smuggled off from Chalbalpur under Kulti police station area of Asansol.
Asansol forest ranger Tamalika Chandra said, "We received information from confidential sources that two residents of Jharkhand had gathered at a marriage hall in Chalbalpur with the intention of smuggling illegal wildlife parts. We raided the area and prevented smuggling. The two were caught red-handed and 11 pieces of Sambar antlers and seven pangolin scales were recovered from them."
The accused have been identified as Ganesh Prasad and Sukumar Bauri. Both are residents of Jharkhand. They were produced before the Asansol court on Friday.
Chandra said it was learnt that some wildlife parts were brought from Jharkhand for smuggling and these were to be sold to a buyer from West Bengal at a marriage hall in Chalbalpur under Kulti police station. "Before the deer antlers and pangolin scales could be smuggled off, the culprits were arrested and the wildlife parts recovered. Wildlife parts are always precious and its difficult to determine the price of the recovered antlers and scales," Chandra said.
Saptarshi Mukherjee, a renowned wildlife photographer and president of Wings, a wildlife charity, told ETV Bharat over phone, "Deer horns are used for making expensive showpieces and combs and are in huge demand in China for preparing medicines. Pangolin scales are used in making cosmetics and is very costly in the Indian cosmetics market."
Initial investigation has revealed that these smugglers are inter-state wildlife smugglers. Asansol, located on the Bengal-Jharkhand border, is gradually becoming a lucrative wildlife trafficking zone because last year itself a huge quantity of pangolin scales were recovered here in winter
Read more
