Veeriya Shekhar, a resident of Moreh in Manipur, was detained by immigration authorities at Chennai airport on July 13 while he was trying to flee to Bangkok after India’s Wildlife Crime Control Bureau issued a lookout circular for him, WCCB officers said.
“This is a big catch — and it has come after months of hardcore intelligence on his clandestine activities,” said a senior WCCB officer. “We believe he has been the kingpin of a vast network of trade in tiger and leopard bones, deer antlers, pangolin scales and red sandalwood.”
Pangolin scales are the outer skin layers of an anteater and are in great demand in traditional Chinese medicine, the official said. Red sandalwood, also called red sanders, is an expensive type of wood valued for its quality of timber.
Although India has been exporting red sanders since the 17th century, a burgeoning international demand for the red sanders’ wavy grain quality timber has led to illegal and destructive exploitation of the wild resources.
Earlier this year, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence officers from Siliguri had seized 17,290kg of red sanders valued at Rs 1.73 crore in Darjeeling district. The logs concealed under sacks of marble chips were meant for illegal export to Nepal, DRI officers had said.
In a statement issued today, the WCCB has said it considers the arrest of Shekhar as a “crucial breakthrough” in cracking a smuggling ring of red sanders in India and other neighbouring countries, including China, Myanmar and Nepal.
A WCCB officer said information about Shekhar’s role in the smuggling network emerged during the interrogation of persons who had been arrested during a series of seizures over the past 18 months.
After months of investigations, the officer said, the WCCB issued a lookout circular that enabled the immigration officers in Chennai to detain Shekhar. He was subsequently arrested by Chhattisgarh police and moved to Raipur where police have filed a case against him.
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