India: The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) on Saturday said it arrested a smuggler from West Bengal’s Alipurduar district and seized a consignment of wildlife products from his possession.

One 540-gm rhino horn and a Tokay Gecko lizard, were seized in a joint operation conducted on Friday by SSB’s 53 Battalion troopers and the Forest Department on a tip-off, an SSB official said.

“The wildlife products were to be smuggled from India to China through Bhutan,” the official said.

Tokay Geckos and Rhinos are found in Jaldapara forest and Buxa Tiger reserve and their body parts are smuggled through Alipurduar to Bhutan, from where they are sent to China, the official said.

The arrested trafficker, identified as Badal Tirki, was later handed over to the West Bengal Forest Department.

The SSB, which is mandated to guard the 1,751-km India-Nepal and the 699-km India-Bhutan international borders, has seized various wildlife products this year and arrested 55 traffickers in 61 cases.

(Source: India.com)