Arrests made through 9 operations in 30 days
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The wildlife lesson
KATHMANDU, Jan 12: Based on the information of violation of CITES Convention in various places in Nepal, the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police carried out nine operations and made about 22 arrests. Some of the arrested are fugitives.
The operations carried out since mid-December 2015 was mainly focused on the districts prone to wildlife crime following reports on the violation of the CITES Convention (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna). Nepal is a signatory to the convention that avoids illegal possession, purchase and sale of archeologically important materials.
DSP Prabin Pokharel of CIB, said that the majority of the operations were carried out in Kathmandu and some in Bara and Bardiya districts on the basis of the information tipped off by the special sources.
In a major operation titled 'Operation Wild Eagle' that started since January 5, CIB has arrested six fugitives from Banke district. In 2015, about 9 tiger skins were seized across the country but the authorities were in the dark about the origin of the tiger skins.
As a part of Operation Wild Eagle, the authorities were able to carry out DNA tests on the seized tiger skins and four of the DNA samples matched the samples of DNA profiles of tigers preserved from Bardiya National Park, according to DSP Pokharel.
During the Operation Wild Eagle, the arrested were Shiva Prasad Tharu, 43, Tej Bahadur Basnet, 58, Lal Bahadur Khatri, 66, Mandire Basnet, 41, Ram Bahadur Basnet, 62 and Bed Prasad Oli, 54, all from Banke.
