Four poachers held from Panna Reserve

TNN | Nov 27, 2012, 04.20 AM IST BHOPAL: Four poachers were arrested from within the Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR) with 61 crude grenades and other hunting tools by the forest officers during a search operation on Monday. The accused -- Lalab Singh, Gilat Singh, Mithun Singh and Rama Nan, all belonging to a nomadic community - were arrested from Patha village in PTR following a specific intelligence input, said sources. Three of them were arrested earlier in other poaching cases earlier also. They have been arrested and sent to jail on charges of trespass and possession of explosives, PTR field director R S Murti told TOI. Success of this operation was because of our strengthened field intelligence and preventive strategy, he said. Prima facie it seems that they were trying to hunt wild boars, he said adding they use cocooning crude bombs. Wild boars often got attracted by the stench and the device explodes when they attempted to chew on it. Their meat fetches good money in the market during the tourist season, said sources. Crude bombs can prove lethal to any wild animal including a tiger, if it chews it. On Saturday, a cow got into the booby trap. "It has suffered a major injury with the impact of blast. As the incident took place outside the park in North Panna area, the case was referred to local police for further investigation. One person was also detained and handed over to police in this connection, said PTR officials. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhopal/Four-poachers-held-from-Panna-Reserve/articleshow/17381304.cms