Nexus between forest guards and poachers in Kaziranga

A nexus between a section of forest guards and poachers involved in rhino poaching in Kaziranga National Park has come to light with the arrest of seven persons, including a retired forest guard on Tuesday, police sources said.

Golaghat Superintendent of Police Madan Chetia told PTI that a joint operation was launched in Bokakhat area and three persons travelling with a rhino horn to Dimapur in neighbouring Nagaland were apprehended.

Based on their interrogation four others, including a retired forest guard, were apprehended from two villages.

Later, the joint team of police and forest personnel raided the residence of another forest guard, Tarun Ganak, and recovered Rs 2.97 lakh though he managed to escape.

Ganak is a muster-roll worker in the forest department and is deployed at Kohora range of the Park.

A rhino horn, a vehicle and Rs 3.95 lakh was seized from the poachers.

The poachers have been identified as Majibur Rahman, Manik Ali, Bijan Das, Anant Baruah, Lakhi Barua and Nabi Hussain.