Gun factory busted in Karbi Anglong

India: In a development that lays bare a thriving network of wildlife crime in the vicinity of Kaziranga National Park, sleuths of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, police and CRPF busted a country gun-making factory at Jogota Pahar under the Dokmoka police station in Karbi Anglong district last night.

Two persons identified as Jiten Loktah (55) and Kon Rongpi (37) have been arrested in this connection. Among the items seized from the factory include a civet cat skin, two single-barrel guns, one air gun barrel, and an iron pipe.

Sources in the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau told The Assam Tribune that the raid was conducted on the basis of intelligence inputs that a thriving racket of poachers was operating from the area.

“We managed to arrest two persons and seize some articles that strongly hint at the operation of a wildlife crime syndicate. Further investigation is on,” sources said.

They added that the proximity of the area to the forested hills of Karbi Anglong that shelter wide-ranging wildlife from Kaziranga in large numbers during the annual floods is a definite indicator that the poachers target the wildlife during the rainy season. Even Kaziranga itself is easily accessible from the area.

The floods have already hit Kaziranga and many of its wildlife are already taking the route to Karbi Anglong through several wildlife corridors linking the National Park with the hilly forests of Karbi Anglong, a Park official said.

“We are monitoring the situation. It is true that poachers find it easier to target the distressed wildlife that seeks shelter in Karbi Anglong during floods. Moreover, the security mechanism in the Karbi Anglong forests is much weaker compared to that of Kaziranga,” he said.

(Source: Assam Tribune)