Tinsukia, 20 February 2021

Comments left on a popular video blogging site led to the bust of an illegal wildlife trade racket and a new life for a pangolin rescued during the operation.

On February 18, WTI’s team assisted the Indian government’s Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) seize a live pangolin and seven Chinese pangolin skins at a hotel in Tinsukia, Assam. WCCB had earlier shared the lead with WTI team after noticing some comments on a video post titled “pangolin scales seized”. Immediately responding to this, the enforcement team at WTI dug deeper to find that the trader was using the video blogging site as a communication platform to conduct this illegal business.

The team monitored related conversations and comments on videos for a few weeks, and discovered that comments had come in from more than 10 states with active buyers and sellers.

The team also found out that the trader was additionally attempting to sell three leopard skins. A few other enforcement officers were working on this particular lead and a covert operation was already initiated.

Soon, a text over WhatsApp for the sale of a live pangolin led to the discovery of the trader’s domain in Arunachal Pradesh hence the deal was preferred to take place in Assam, either in Dibrugarh or Tinsukia.  The collected information and intelligence was handed over to the WCCB for further action.

The joint enforcement team of WCCB and state forest department successfully executed the enforcement operation on 18^th February 2021 and took two persons (one female and one male) into custody and recovered seven Chinese pangolin skins and one live Chinese pangolin from their possession in a hotel near new Tinsukia Junction, Assam.

The arrested woman confessed that she had collected the live pangolin and skins from local tribals in Longding, Arunachal Pradesh. Primary mobile analysis of the accused’s mobile phones revealed that she had connections in Myanmar (Burma) for live pangolins and previously had been trading Tokay geckos in 2018-19.

The confiscated live pangolin was further handed over to Range Forest Officer Mr. Manjit Somwal, Tinsukia Range and the case was registered in Tinsukia Sadar Police Station. The pangolin was released in the wild on 20^th February 2021 in Soraipung, East block Dehing, Patkai. WTI’s Mobile Veterinary Service Unit in Eastern Assam supported by HCL Foundation took over veterinary care and release of the animal.

Pangolins are hunted for their meat and considered as a delicacy in certain parts of the country. The scales are kept by the hunters and sold to middlemen who visit them on a regular basis. Pangolin scales are very much in demand in the international market and due to this demand  across the world pangolins are being hunted and now it is the most trafficked wildlife across the world.  The uncontrolled hunting of pangolins are affecting their survival in the wild and it is  a major conservation concern.

Wildlife Crime Control Division is one of our core programmes, it adopts a multipronged approach to curb wildlife crime. From working undercover and providing leads to enforcement agencies on a wildlife crime in progress to training forest frontline staff and capacity building to fight wildlife crime. Read more here https://www.wti.org.in/projects/wildlife-crime-control-division/