Monday, 29 JULY 2024 | PNS | DEHRADUN
The Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) arrested three men with two elephant tusks from Shyampur in the Haridwar district in a joint operation with the Terai Central forest division and Shyampur police. The STF senior superintendent of police Ayush Agrawal said that the team conducted a covert operation to nab these wildlife traffickers. The STF first arrested two accused Gautam Singh and Chandan Singh from Shyampur. The duo belongs to Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh and was found in possession of an ivory tusk weighing about seven kilogrammes. Further interrogation led to the late night arrest of Jitendra Singh from Shyampur with another ivory tusk of about seven kilogrammes. Agarwal said that the STF had received inputs about the involvement of these men in wildlife trafficking in the Haridwar area for a long time. A team was secretly deployed to take action, leading to the arrests and recovery of the ivory. He said that the arrested accused are notorious criminals. Gautam has a prior murder charge in Bijnor about seven years ago and Jitendra had previously been jailed under the Forest Act in 2017 in Shyampur, he stated. The arrested traffickers will be booked under the Wildlife Protection Act and further investigation will reveal details about the poaching of the elephants. The authorities cannot reveal more information about this case right now, he added. Besides this, Agarwal also highlighted the crucial roles of chief constables Mahendra Giri and Kishore Kumar in the successful execution of the operation. He also appealed to the public to report any wildlife trafficking activities to the nearest police station or contact the STF Uttarakhand at 0135 2656202.
