Two Maharashtra cops held with tiger skins, pangolin scales in Bastar’s Kanker

RAIPUR: Chhattisgarh forest department in its major intelligence-led anti-poaching operation has exposed a suspected interstate wildlife trafficking network operating across one of central India's most critical tiger habitats, and have seized two tiger skins, pangolin scales and arrested two policemen of Maharashtra.

Officials said the exact role of the cops in the nexus is still being verified, but they were caught with the tiger skin and other stuff while they were on the move on a motorcycle.Carried out under ‘operation safe passage’, the investigators suspect that the seized skins belonged to tigers poached from the Indravati Tiger Reserve-Abujmarh landscape. The vast forested belt forms the backbone of a nearly 400-km corridor linking Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Odisha, through which tigers, elephants, gaur and wild buffalo move between habitats.Forest officials believe the seizure could be only one piece of a larger trafficking chain involving poachers, transporters, middlemen and buyers operating across state borders.“The two accused, identified as Baburao Madavi and Bijeshwar Gedam, both from Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district, were intercepted while allegedly transporting two tiger skins on a motorcycle near the border under West Bhanupratappur forest division in Bastar’s Kanker district,” a forest official told TOI.

Acting on information obtained during questioning, investigators later searched Gedam's house in Aheri and recovered a large cache of pangolin scales, indicating that the syndicate may have been dealing in multiple Schedule-I protected species.A forest offence has been registered under the Wildlife (Protection) Act in West Paralkot range, and both accused have been remanded to judicial custody.The operation brought together the anti-poaching unit of Udanti-Sitanadi tiger reserve, the wildlife crime control bureau's central and western regional units, forest' flying squad, West Bhanupratappur forest division and Gariyaband police.The Gadchiroli-Indravati-Abujmarh-Udanti-Sitanadi-Sunabeda corridor has, in recent years, witnessed encouraging signs of tigers naturally expanding their range from Maharashtra into Chhattisgarh. Every dispersing animal is considered critical for maintaining genetic diversity and rebuilding tiger populations across central India.“The loss of even two dispersing tigers from this landscape is a setback because these are the very animals helping reconnect isolated populations,” the forest officials said.Investigators are now trying to establish whether more tigers may have been poached from the Indravati-Abujhmarh landscape and identify others involved in the trafficking chain, including suppliers, financiers and buyers.Forest officials said that continuous operation has increased pressure on organised poaching syndicates and coincided with improved movement of tigers through the corridor. But the latest case also highlights a growing conservation challenge: as tigers reclaim old corridors and disperse beyond protected areas, organised wildlife trafficking networks appear to be following them.