Deer poaching racket busted, 4 held
Monotosh Chakraborty & Krishnendu Bandyopadhyay, TNN 14 December 2009, 06:50am
Deer

KOLKATA: The high demand for deer meat at some select Kolkata hotels has led to deer poaching in the Sunderbans. This shocking revelation surfaced after the forest department arrested four poachers and busted a deer-poaching racket early on Sunday.

Forest officials seized as many as 20 nylon traps the same traps used to entrap tigers and two deer antlers from the poachers.

According to preliminary investigations, patrons of some hotels in south and central Kolkata are ready to pay any price for deer meat delicacies. According to sources, a kilo of deer meat fetches suppliers anything from Rs 450 to Rs 600. This high demand has opened up the supply line at the heart of the Sunderbans, said an investigator, adding that a well-oiled network of poacher-receiver-supplier' had developed in a very short time.

The forest department got alarmed after two recent discoveries of deer meat. Only a week ago, 70 kg was retrieved while on the way to Kolkata from the Sunderbans. Earlier, 50 kg of deer meat had been recovered from Baruipur market.

These recoveries startled officials of the Sundarban Tiger Reserve (STR), who immediately started a probe. Acting on a specific tip-off, the STR officers divided into two groups went to Kumirmari island at the dead of night on Saturday. They had information that one poaching group would be on the prowl in a forest area adjacent to Kumirmari village, and decided to lay a trap. The officers kept tracking the poachers through mobile tower locations, through which they also got details like whom the poachers were in touch with and their exact positions. Posing as potential customers, they got in touch with the poachers and wanted to place an order for meat.

The poachers told them that they could not supply the meat, as they needed more time to make fresh kills, but they could readily supply antlers. It was at this point that the officers decided to nab them.

"The forest officers picked up Gopal Gayen (32) and Dipak Gayen (35). After interrogating them, forest guards nabbed Shubhendu Khajanchi (22) and Sanjay Gayen (20)," said STR field director Subrat Mukherjee. "But there are some front- and back-linkages whom we need to nab," said an officer.

The officers are of the opinion that the racket is much bigger than just these four people. But these four used to take the lead role in most operations, they believe. "All of them are extremely efficient in catching wildlife in the near-impenetrable forest land. They know where they would get their best catch. They also know when and where forest guards patrol," said an officer.