A wildlife trafficker, involved in smuggling body parts of 125 tigers and 1,200 leopards, has been sentence to four years imprisonment by a Madhya Pradesh court.
According to a Hindustan Times report, the accused, Shamim, hails from Kanpur and was arrested in February this year.
He would traffic animal body parts to international markets via Nepal and Tibet, said the Special Task Forces (STF).
Four others – Badrilal Sapera, Mansingh, Prehlad and Raghuvir – who worked with Shamim, too, were awarded four years imprisonment, as well as a penalty of Rs 10,000. If they fail to pay the failing payment of which they will be bound to serve an additional jail term of 10 months.
Shamim, along with the four of them, was involved in organised wildlife smuggling, including pangolins, jackals, cobras, red sand boas, and hyenas, in Madhya Pradesh's Narsinghgarh, Sehore, Guna, Rajasthan, and Delhi, reported HT.
According to a Times of India report, two of Shamim's gangmates had been arrested earlier. During interrogation, they revealed links with Shamim, and it was then that the Madhya Pradesh STF (Wildlife) sought cooperation with Uttar Pradesh STF for his arrest.
On 5 February, the investigating team received a tip off that Shamim will come to Anwarganj to meet someone. The STF teams of both states connived a plan, caught him, and arrested him.
Media reports say that Shamim had been engaged in animal trafficking for over two decades. In 2001, the UP police had seized a huge consignment of tiger and leopard hides from his house.
(Breathe In, Breathe Out: Are you finding it tough to breathe polluted air? Join hands with FIT in partnership with #MyRightToBreathe to find a solution to pollution. Send in your suggestions to fit@thequint.com or WhatsApp @ +919999008335)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)