Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, 10 Feb: Three poachers who attempted to sell the carcass of a Royal Bengal tiger were arrested in a joint operation carried out by the Assam Wildlife Control Bureau and the Arunachal forest department and police on Tuesday, Banderdewa Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Chukhu Loma informed.
The poachers have been identified as Tape Yomcha, Miyum Yomcha and Omit Doley. They have been booked under Sections 9 and 44 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
The DFO informed that, based on information, the joint team “contacted the poachers and fixed the rate of the carcass of the tiger at Rs 30 lakhs.”
“Later, when the poachers reached the Banderdewa petrol pump, the police arrested them. The carcass has been identified as being that of a Royal Bengal tiger, a Schedule 1 species,” informed Loma.
During interrogation, it was learnt that the tiger had been killed in revenge by the villagers of Yomcha (West Siang) after the tiger had eaten mithuns and cows.
“The DFO concerned there has asked us to gather the detailed information on this,” said Loma.
Currently, the trio is in judicial custody in Lakhimpur, Assam.
