Boudha: After years of chase by the Interpol, and police in India and Nepal, the notorious wildlife trader Tashi Tsering alias Tsewang was finally arrested on 11th December by the Boudha Police in Nepal.

Acting on information provided by field operatives of the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and Wildlife Conservation Nepal (WCN), the Nepal authorities acted swiftly under the guidance of Valley Chief (DIG Krishna Basnet and D.B. Lama, Nepal Ex-Police Chairman and ex-Police Chief) to nab the wildlife smuggler who had for years evaded arrest.

South Asia’s most wanted wildlife trader will be escorted to Langtang National Park (north of Kathmandu) tomorrow to be tried by the Chief Warden and sentenced according to National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 1973 and amended in 1999 which means 15 years of imprisonment for the deeds he had done.

The Interpol had issued a red corner notice on 3rd April 2002 against Tashi Tsering on charges of conspiracy and violation of the provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act. Tsering was evading arrest in several cases in India and abroad for his criminal role in some of the biggest wildlife seizures in recent history.

Tashi Tsering, alias Tsewang first shot to notoriety after the Ghaziabad seizure, one of the biggest seizures in the year 1999 in which the police recovered a large quantity of leopard, otter and tiger skins enroute to Siliguri.

Says Ashok Kumar, Vice Chairman of WTI, “The skins were seized at an octroi check post and carried his signatures. The skins were systematically numbered, which showed that they were picked from a larger lot. Though the skins had signatures of Tsering on the back, no one at that time knew who  Tsering was.”

“Another seizure in Siliguri in April 2000 established a Tibet connection because it had a large number of otter skins. This lot also bore his signatures but unfortunately the CBI missed him by a few minutes.”

The Bengal police succeeded in arresting a co-accused who was a Nepali citizen. Twenty-two leopard and 72 otter skins were recovered during this seizure.

After Interpol issued a red corner notice against him in 2002, T. Tsering went underground but then a new name surfaced—Tsewang. He had begun to come back to Delhi under the name of Tsewang. The seizure in Delhi on 6th April resulted in the arrest of Tsewang’s accomplices, one of whom is a Tibetan in India, Anand Tashi who said he was only a carrier and the goods belong to Tsewang who managed to escape. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) which had been on the trail issued a Red Cornered Interpol notice in the name of Tsewang as well in September 2005.

A recent seizure in Nepal also showed his involvement but since Tsewang had been evading arrest, WTI undercover operatives set on his trail that lasted months. A major breakthrough was made when the operatives revealed that Tsewang and T Tsering were in fact aliases of the same person! Moreover, WTI managed to obtained a first ever photograph of Tsewang / T. Tsering which made identification possible.

According to Prasanna Yonzon, CEO (WCN), “operatives were in touch with various persons in India and Nepal of the accused and developed leads leading to his arrest. One of Tsewang’s accomplices was learnt to be traveling from Delhi to Boudha on the night of 7th December and following that, a close vigil was kept at his house. Months of trailing him finally resulted in his arrest at Boudha.”

The red notice issued by Interpol requires a bilateral extradition treaty to request for his extradition to India. Since we do not have such a treaty, India can at best make a special request to the Nepal authorities to interrogate Tsewang in Nepal to establish linkages in the chain of illegal traffickers who have driven some of India’s key species to the brink of extinction.