Itanagar, Feb 9: In a joint operation, a team of Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) sleuths and Forest officials from Assam and Arunachal Pradesh seized a huge cache of body parts of a Royal Bengal tiger near the Banderdewa check gate along the Assam-Arunachal boundary on Monday, a senior Forest Department official said on Tuesday.
Three persons, including two from Arunachal Pradesh and one from Assam, were apprehended on charges of smuggling the wild animal's body parts. They were booked under relevant sections of the Wildlife (Protection) Act and the Indian Penal Code, said Tana Tapi, the Deputy Chief Wildlife Warden, Government of Arunachal Pradesh.
They have been identified as Mintu Doley of Telam village in neighbouring Assam's Dhemaji district, and Tape Yomcha and Nyang Yomcha - both from Yomcha village in Arunachal's West Siang district.
The trio was heading to Assam while they were caught at a petrol depot at Banderdawa along the inter-state boundary. Prima facie, the tiger was killed almost a month back somewhere in Yomcha area and its body parts were tried to be smuggled to Assam to sell them in clandestine market, Tapi, also the coordinator, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, Arunachal Pradesh, said.
He informed that the arrestees have now been lodged in a jail in the neighbouring state, while adding that further investigation is on.
