CBI busts illegal wildlife trade racket; arrests 3 with 26 tiger, leopard claws

The Central Bureau of Investigation has busted an illegal wildlife trade racket and arrested three people with 26 tiger and leopards claws, officials said Monday. The CBI acted on an intelligence that Sunny, a resident of Vikaspuri in Delhi, is in the possession of large number of tiger and leopard claws which he was going to sell to dealers, they said.

The central agency was also intimated about his other gang members who were coming from Jaipur to help him strike the deal with wildlife smugglers, officials said.

A team of officials along with experts from the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and independent witnesses were sent to lay an ambush on the suspects based on the basis of source information, they said.

Sources said the claws are used in Chinese traditional medicine and some 'tantrik' (Occultist) rituals within the country, making them extremely valuable in the black market.

The team had maintained intense surveillance since July 14 through its source on every movement of Pamjeet Singh alias Sunny and his accomplices -- Ashok Parekh and Pintal Patel -- who were coming from Jaipur, they said.

The source informed them that Parekh and Patel will reach Delhi by 10 PM on July 14 and the trio were planning to sell the banned items to an unknown dealer next day near a hotel in Karol Bagh, officials said.

After visual confirmation from the source, the CBI nabbed the trio with the claws which were hidden in their clothes. The WCCB expert also confirmed the four claws to be of tiger while remaining were that of leopards, they said.

The accused were brought to CBI headquarters where the seizure memo was prepared and they were taken into custody.

The agency then started subsequent operation to arrest remaining members of the wildlife trading ring conducting searches at multiple locations in Delhi and Jaipur in which seven more claws were recovered from Jaipur, they said.