Two men were arrested allegedly with animal parts at Jaigaon in Alipurduar district on
Friday night.

The chief judicial magistrate’s court in Alipurduar on Saturday remanded Rakesh Prasad of Jaigaon and Bishal Kumar Sha of Hasimara in judicial custody.

Police said that they had received specific intelligence that two persons were travelling from Uttar Pradesh with animal bones. Acting on the tip-off, officers kept watch on their route. The duo first reached Siliguri by train before boarding a bus headed towards Jaigaon.

“At GST More, teams engaged in naka checking stopped the bus and found the two men carrying large bags. The bags contained a significant quantity of bones,” said a police source.

The seized bones will be sent to a forensic laboratory to determine the species.
The investigators have
explained that bones have a steady demand in Bhutan, where many people, driven
by superstition, use them for so-called tantrik and mantrik rituals. This
demand has encouraged smugglers to transport consignments illegally across
the border.

Paljar Bhutia, inspector-in-charge of the Jaigaon police station, said a thorough investigation was on.