Officers of the Baikunthapur forest division on Tuesday arrested an alleged poacher with firearms from Nepalibusty, a village on the fringes of Baikunthapur forest near Siliguri.
In another case, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) personnel on the India-Nepal border seized 32 pigs of Chinese origin from the Baromaniramjote area in the Naxalbari block of the Siliguri subdivision on Monday night and arrested one person.
The Baikunthapur foresters said they had arrested Krishna Kumar Chhetri on a tip-off. Chhetri was allegedly involved in the poaching of wild animals and had collected a firearm for this purpose, said foresters.
“Our team acted on a tipoff, conducted raids in some locations and finally nabbed him,” said a forest official. During the raid, the team seized an improvised firearm, a round of live cartridge, a bow, arrows and some daggers from him.
“A turtle shell and a live peacock were found at his residence which suggests his involvement in such crimes. We are trying to find out if he was associated with a poaching racket and if he has links in illegal trade of wild animals and their body parts,” an official said.
In the pig case, Raj Minz of Bijoynagar tea estate which is on the outskirts of Siliguri, was arrested for reportedly smuggling pigs from Nepal.