Five poachers held, rhino horn recovered

Tezpur (Assam): Five poachers were arrested from Biswanath district on Sunday and a rhino horn was recovered from them. Biswanath Superintendent of Police Ankur Jain said four rhino poachers arrested on Sunday morning from Gohpur along with a 650 gm horn.
At the time of arrest, the four poachers were finalising a deal worth Rs 50 lakh for the horn, the price of which in the international market is over Rs 1.5 crore.
Jain said another poacher was arrested from a remote area under Sootea police station. Police had launched an operation to nab these poachers two days ago after receiving inputs.
Jain said police recovered one .303 rifle with 17 ammunition, one modified carbine, 9 mm ammunition, one modified silencer and one 9 mm carbine with magazine. Due to flood, animals have come out of the Kaziranga National Park and poachers are taking advantage of this.
In an anti-poaching drive carried out by Biswanath police over the past two months, around 25 poachers have been arrested from different places of the district. (PTI)