Forest department officials prepare to move a tranquillised rhino. File picture

Jorhat, Nov. 8: Police last night recovered several vials of the sedative Aniket, which contains creatine hydrochloride, from the house of a poacher from near Kaziranga National Park, triggering suspicion that poachers have been using tranquillisers before gouging out the horn of rhinos.

The police have now launched a search for the tranquilliser gun.

A police official at Diphu police station told The Telegraph that last night’s operation was launched based on the interrogation of Golap Patgiri, the poacher in whose house these sedatives were found. Patgiri was apprehended from Dhubawati Bheloguri village near the park recently. He is still in police custody.

Four poachers were also apprehended during the operation conducted jointly by Diphu and Bokakhat police with the help of forest department. They are Shivaram Pegu, Sishuram Pegu, Kartik Pegu and Rajesh Munda. They hail from different villages near the park.

In 2007, Kaziranga National Park authorities had recovered a tranquilliser gun from the house of a poacher at Latabari tea estate near the park. “The tranquilliser gun makes much less sound than the .303 rifle commonly used by poachers to kill rhinos, so poachers have now taken to this new method to target the animals,” a forest official said.

The police official at Diphu police station said, “We are still not sure whether the rhinos killed recently were tranquillised before their horns were gouged out. Investigations are on,” the police official said.

He said investigations were also on as to how the poacher got possession of these drugs since they are not available in the market.

Abhijit Bhawal, a veterinarian at the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation near Kaziranga, said Aniket is a sedative generally used to tranquillise big cats but it is not sure whether the sedative would work on rhinos. “Only a laboratory test will confirm the chemical combination of the drug and whether it would work on rhinos,” he said.

Horns of at least five rhinos were gouged out before the animals were dead in and around Kaziranga recently, raising fears that these animals were tranquillised by poachers. One of these rhinos survived for more than a week before succumbing to its injuries. The carcasses of all these rhinos also bore bullet marks.

Karbi Anglong police has achieved continuous success in recent times in their fight against poachers. Forty-nine persons, including poachers involved in recent killings of rhinos, linkmen and persons involved in rhino-horn trade, were apprehended in the past one month. They also recovered an AK-47 rifle, eight .303 rifles, two double-barrelled guns and ammunition.

“Our fight against poachers is still on. There are several poachers out in the open and efforts are on to apprehend them,” the police official said.

He said Karbi Anglong police were also in touch with Dimapur police since rhino horns are generally sold there.