Couple held with elephant tusks & leopard teeth

Alipurduar: The Jaldapara Forest Division has made a major breakthrough with a crackdown on wildlife trafficking. In a late-night operation on Tuesday, forest officials arrested a couple in Alipurduar and seized two kilograms of elephant tusks along with four leopard teeth.

The arrested duo has been identified as Parimal Chandra De and his wife Debjani Ray De, a physiotherapist by profession.

Both are residents of Jhinaidanga, under Kotwali police station, near the Cooch Behar district headquarters. They were produced before the Alipurduar District Court on Wednesday.

During the raid, officials recovered three pieces of elephant tusks weighing around 2 kg, four leopard teeth and a four-wheeler vehicle. However, the Forest department has refrained from disclosing details of how the wildlife body parts were obtained or the circumstances of the arrest, citing the need to keep it a secret for the sake of further investigation.

Authorities suspect a wider trafficking network may be involved.

The department has sought remand of the accused to gather more information about possible links.

Confirming the operation, Praveen Kaswan, DFO of Jaldapara, said: “We had prior intelligence and kept our team on alert for days.

Acting on specific information, the vehicle was intercepted and the accused were apprehended.

One of them also has a past case under the Illegal Arms Act.”