15 arrested in connection with rhino horn smuggling

By A Staff Reporter,Kathmandu, Feb. 11: The Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) arrested a total of 15 individuals for their alleged involvement in rhino poaching from different parts of the country during a special operation spanning over a month.

The CIB had initiated operation “Route to Root” after they arrested two individuals with a 522-gm rhino horn from Saraswatinagar in Ward No. 7 of Kathmandu Metropolitan City on January 3, 2022. 

Indramani Acharya, 45, of Bhadrapur, Jhapa, and Jamuna Kumari Sharma, 41, of Kohalpur, Banke, were arrested when the duo was looking for prospective buyers.

“Preliminary investigation led us to other individuals involved in the smuggling racket. We coordinated with Division Forest Office, Hattisar, and arrested 13 other individuals,” read a statement issued by the CIB Thursday night.

However, authorities waited for more than a fortnight to make other arrests. It was on January 26 when the CIB arrested three individuals.

“Babulal Bhattarai, 62, of Palpa; Gajadhar Sapkota, 61, of Kailali; and Pratap Chaudhary, 36, of Kailali; were arrested from Sitapaila and Gongabu areas,” the CIB informed.

The trio had collected the horn and given to Acharya and Sharma with the responsibility of finding buyers. After the trio, authorities arrested three others on February 3 from Kathmandu.

The three others have been identified as Dambar Kumar Ale Magar, 45, of Bhojpur; Dan Bahadur Rana, 47, of Gorkha; and Nirmal Shahi, 46, of Syangja. Magar and two others were found to have provided the horn to Babulal Bhattarai.

Moreover, Magar’s group had also received the horn from someone else. Further investigation led the CIB to arrest Harimaya Rana, 38, of Syangja, from Ward No. 8 of Waling Municipality on February 5. 

Rana was working as a middleman between Shahi and another involved individual Kamala Tamang.

Kamala Tamang, 40, of Chitwan, was arrested on February 7 from Bharatpur Metropolitan City. Tamang was found to have collected the horn from poachers and contacted the group of Shahi through Rana.

Tamang had also brought the horn to Kathmandu from Chitwan.

According to the CIB, after Tamang, they were able to reach the poachers.

On February 8, the CIB arrested five poachers from different parts of Chitwan district. They have been identified as Som Bahadur Chepang aka Raju, 39; Tulasi Chepang, 30; Birman Waiba, 39; Radha Krishna Chepang, 30; and Aita Bahadur Tamang, 52.

The poachers had killed a rhino nearby the Khagedi Bridge in the forest of Chitwan. They had then cut off the horn and later handed over to Kamala Tamang for selling purpose.

Further investigation and legal processes will be initiated by the Division Forest Office, informed CIB officials.