Guwahati: In a major clampdown on illicit wildlife trade, Assam police has apprehended four persons with a rhino horn weighing 1.341 kg in Golaghat district’s Merapani.
Acting on a tip-off, Golaghat Police on Sunday conducted a raid at Kalyanpur under Merapani PS and seized one rhino horn weighing 1.341 kg.
Four persons were also detained in connection with the case.
The arrested individuals have been identified as Farooq Ali, Noor Jamal, Binod Barua, and Rupam Barua.
Acting on a tip off, Golaghat Police conducted a raid at Kalyanpur under Merapani PS and seized one suspected Rhino Horn weighing 1.341 kg & detained 4 suspects. Legal action initiated.@assampolice @DGPAssamPolice@gpsinghips @d_mukherjee_IPS pic.twitter.com/AJN8eImloT
— Golaghat Police (@GolaghatPolice) January 5, 2025
Further investigation is underway to ascertain the degree of their involvement in wildlife trafficking nd to identify any potential links to larger criminal networks.
The horn of an Indian rhino weighs 0.4-3 kg and can fetch up to USD 20,000 per kg in the international black market.
International rhino horn trade was banned in 1977 by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
According to the United Nations World Wildlife Crime Report 2024, rhino horn trade accounted for 29 percent of the observed wildlife trade during the 2015-2021 period, based on seizures.
On December 6, 2024, a man was detained with a rhinoceros horn, weighing 1.3 kg, from the Dholpur area of Lakhimpur district.
A police team, led by Narayanpur OC Nipon Gogoi, recovered the horn from the residence of a local man Neela Gogoi. The raid was conducted following reliable intelligence regarding illegal wildlife trade activities in the area.
He was taken into custody and subsequently handed over to the forest department, along with the confiscated horn.
He has been charged under the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972, which strictly prohibits poaching, trafficking, and trading of rhino products.
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In September last year, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed that Kaziranga and other protected habitats of the one-horned rhino in Assam recorded an 86 percent drop in poaching of the animal since 2016.
