New Delhi: Chhattisgarh police has arrested a man alleged to be the “kingpin” of an extensive network of illegal trade in animal and plant wildlife that extended to other Asian countries, wildlife officials said today after an 18-month cloak-and-dagger operation.
Veeriya Shekhar, a resident of Moreh in Manipur, was detained by immigration authorities at Chennai airport on July 13 while he was trying to flee to Bangkok after India’s Wildlife Crime Control Bureau issued a lookout circular for him, WCCB officers said.
“This is a big catch — and it has come after months of hardcore intelligence on his clandestine activities,” said a senior WCCB officer. “We believe he has been the kingpin of a vast network of trade in tiger and leopard bones, deer antlers, pangolin scales and red sandalwood.”
Pangolin scales are the outer skin layers of an anteater and are in great demand in traditional Chinese medicine, the official said. Red sandalwood, also called red sanders, is an expensive type of wood valued for its quality of timber.
Although India has been exporting red sanders since the 17th century, a burgeoning international demand for the red sanders’ wavy grain quality timber has led to illegal and destructive exploitation of the wild resources.
05/08/11 Telegraph
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