Smuggling of various parts and skins of rare wild animals, making Nepalgunj and Kohalpur as main transit points for a long time, has not stopped yet.
Teeth, bones, skins and horns of rare wild animals including tiger, elephant, rhinoceros, deer and red panda are being brought to Kohalpur and Nepalgunj from various hilly districts and Banke and Bardiya and sent from here to other places. This has been confirmed as the police have been arresting such smugglers more than twice a month with valuable organs and skins.
Meanwhile, the District Police Office, Banke, arrested a man with the skin of a protected red panda on Saturday.
According to Banke Police Spokesperson DSP Madhusudan Neupane, a team from the District Police Office, Banke, detained a man with the skin from near Nepalgunj-4 Buddha Mandir New Road at around 5 am on Saturday.
According to him, Maniram Sunar, 28, of Jajarkot in Bheri Municipality-1, was arrested with the skin of a red panda.
DSP Neupane said that the skin of the red panda was recovered from the bag he was carrying. Police said that further investigation is underway after taking him into custody.
Last month, police had arrested two persons with a red panda’s skin. According to the police, most of the arrested people have been claiming to be only mule.
Meanwhile, Kohalpur Police Chief DSP Rabindra Khanal said that the smugglers were also arrested several times in Kohalpur.
According to the police, the body parts and skins of the rare wild animals brought to Nepalgunj and Kohalpur from Jajarkot, Salyan, Dailekh, Dang, Rolpa, Banke and Bardiya are smuggled to India and Kathmandu.
Source : TRN,
