1 held for smuggling rhino horns

Kolkata: Police arrested one person for his alleged involvement in smuggling rhino horns in various parts of the country as well as abroad. A rhino horns has been recovered from his possession.

Acting on a tip-off, the senior forest department officials conducted a raid in Telipara area under Banarhat police station in Jalpaiguri on Tuesday morning. Police and forest department officials suspect that the accused might be a part of an interstate smuggling racket.

They arrested the accused identified as Abhijit Debdas, who is a resident of Joteswar area under Falakata block.

During the interrogation, the accused have admitted that he was involved in the smuggling racket. Police are yet to ascertain where the accused would smuggle the rhino horns. They, however, suspect that the racket has been operational in the area for quite sometime. After interrogating the accused, police also came to know about others who are also involved in the racket.

A senior official of the forest department said the accused, however, tried to flee the spot during the raid.

The security has been beefed up in the forest areas following the incident. The forest officials are also examining the CCTV footages in connection to the incident.