TURA: Wildlife officials in Garo Hills have opened an investigation to identify the gang behind the recent killing of wild elephants in the border belt with Bangladesh following the arrest of a villager from whom they recovered a pair of elephant tusks extracted from a recent killing, two days ago.
Wildlife officials had recovered the carcass of a male pachyderm with both its tusk missing in the Purakhasia border region, a few weeks ago.
It was reportedly the second such killing of a wild tusker in the area.
Investigation of the crime scene indicated that it was a meticulous operation carried out by several persons and a search led to the recovery of the two tusks from a villager of Balijhora village close to the international border.
The poachers had given the tusks to the villager for safe keeping while they scouted for a buyer when wildlife teams with support from police caught up with him.
“This was not the handiwork of a single person but a gang of poachers. They targeted the tusker while it moved through its route in search of food. We are making all efforts to nab the gang before they strike again,” revealed a wildlife official.
Garo Hills has a sizeable number of wild elephants that regularly move out for food. Another group of pachyderms also cross over from neighbouring Bangladesh frequently.
The entire border region beginning from distant Rongara in South Garo Hills to Dalu and Purakhasia in the west and up to Gopinath Tilla and Salmanpara area of Mahendraganj are elephant movement zones in which man and beast have frequently clashed.