Three-year jail term for 12 Indian wildlife trade accomplices
20/06/2010 21:10:53
75kg of tiger bones seized
June 2010: Twelve accomplices of wildlife trader Shabbir Hasan Qureshi were pronounced guilty of abetting the illegal trade of tiger parts, by a court in India.
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VILE TRADE: Now authorities hope to convict
one of India's top illegal wildlife trade offenders |
The ten women and two men have each been sentenced to three years' imprisonment and fined 10,000 rupees in Allahabad in Utter Pradesh in northern India after being found guilty of carrying contraband as well as for assisting illegal trade in a cross-state nexus.
3 tiger skins
The dozen were arrested at Quereshi's home in Allahabad nearly three years ago during a raid by the Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force. Qureshi, his two sons - Sarfaraz and Siraz - as well as another accomplice Mohd Ayub were also arrested. Three tiger skins and 75kg of tiger bones among other wildlife articles were seized.
The group were denied bail at the behest of the prosecution led by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
‘They were concealing their true names and addresses. They would be virtually untraceable if they jumped bail and escaped, so their bail was vehemently opposed, and successfully averted. They have been given a sentence of three years which means that they will be under arrest till December this year,' said Arvind Kumar Tripathi, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) lawyer who has been assisting the prosecution through the trial and had played a significant role in the bail being denied for all of the 16 accused.
Now court is pursuing one of India's top wildlife offenders
The trial had begun as a combined one involving all of the 16 accused including Qureshi. However, as Qureshi's tactics kept the case lingering, the group, all members of India's Pardhi tribe, who are known for their excellent tracking skills, requested their case to be separated and pleaded guilty. The court will continue to separately hear the case of Qureshi, Sarfaraz, Siraz and Ayub.
Qureshi, has earlier been sentenced to three years imprisonment for wildlife trade in Katni, Madhya Pradesh, and is one of the key accused in the infamous Khaga seizure. Considered among the top wildlife offenders in the country, Qureshi is also known to have links with Sansar Chand and has been involved in or headed a number of international wildlife trade rackets.
Read the comments about this article and leave your own comment
I entirely agree with John Vickers. Unless very tough sentences are imposed on these murderers, our wildlfe stands no chance at all. These laughable sentences do not serve as a serious deterrent. When is India going to wake up to the fact that unless something very drastic is done, our tigers will not last another 5 years!
Posted by: Meher Toorkey | 27 Jun 2010 13:46:08
As a regular visitor to the tiger reserves of India i was firstly relieved to read of the capture and subsequent imprisonment of these 12 wretched people who are raping the beautiful forests of India of their wildlife and in particular the endangered Bengal Tiger. The trade in tiger skins and derivatives will not stop until the Indian government puts wildlife crime high up on the agenda and the punishment for such crime considerably more that just 10,000 IRS which is equivalent to meager sum of just 145 GBP-not much for the poachers to pay when the rewards for tiger parts are sky high. In addition just 3 years for taking the lives of these magnificent animals is no real deterrent. Please wake up India.
www.tigersintheforest.com
Posted by: Michael Vickers | 27 Jun 2010 11:22:13
Posted by: Michael Vickers | 27 Jun 2010 11:04:50