India:  A member of an inter-state gang of rhino horn smugglers was arrested in Assam's Sivasagar district on Monday.

"Based on specific information, we arrested Kapil Kahar, 32, a resident of Salmari village near Demow town, and seized a rhino horn weighing 1.5kg from him," Sivasagar deputy superintendent of police Prafulla Sonowal said. Fake gold bullions and fake currency printing machineries were also recovered from Kahar's house.

"Kahar admitted that he had intended to sell the horn at Dimapur in Nagaland through his private network but had postponed the idea because of tight security along the Assam-Nagaland border in view of the Nagaland polls," the DSP added.

Sources said the gang transported rhino horns to other countries.

"The horns of a majority of rhinos poached in Assam find their way to Dimapur from where they head towards the porous India-Myanmar border. The horns are smuggled to Myanmar through the border town of Moreh in Manipur. Further, they are transported to China, Vietnam and other southeast Asian countries where they are used to make medicines," a source said.

Assam has almost two-third of the world's one-horned rhino population spread across Kaziranga National Park, Orang National Park and Pobitora wildlife sanctuary.

In 2016, the Dispur-constituted Rhino Horn Verification Committee examined 2,038 rhino horns kept in 12 treasuries of the state. Of these, five turned out to be fake

(Source: The Telegraph)