6 inter-state poachers held at Gundal forests

H M Aravind, TNN Jul 8, 2012, 04.22AM IST National Tiger Conservation Authority|inter-state poachers|Gundal forests MYSORE: For some time now, the forest department was continuously watching the movement of outsiders on the fringes of the BRT wildlife sanctuary bordering Tamil Nadu. Hindi-speaking outsiders were under the scanner following alerts that a gang could be trying to strike in the tiger reserve. The efforts have paid off as the forest department busted a team of inter-state poachers that was active in the Karnataka. Luckily, the team has been nabbed before any big cat has fallen prey to them. What's alarming is that the gang has a past record: They are wanted in wildlife crimes in other states and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WLCCB) is now scanning the accused. At least one of the six arrested is facing a wildlife offence at Arunachal Pradesh, sources told The Sunday Times of India. "There were regular alerts and we took them seriously beefing up security at the field level. We nabbed them at Gundal forests," they added. Though the security was put on alert, the gang had managed to infiltrate inside the tiger reserve spread over 539.52 square kilometers bordering Tamil Nadu. This comes barely four weeks after a six months old tiger cub was poached in the area. But the poachers were localities who were arrested on June 13. The gang is busted based on alerts from National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA). The operation was assisted by the Chennai-based WLCCB. According to BRT tiger reserve director Vijay Mohan Raj, the inter-state poachers hail from Haryana and were sent to Karnataka to poach tigers. All the arrested are from Panchkula district. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-07-08/mysore/32588477_1_tiger-reserve-poachers-national-tiger-conservation-authority