Bhubaneswar/Baleshwar: Odisha’s DGP in-charge Vinaytosh Mishra said that a case was registered Friday in connection with the appearance of five baby orangutans in a forest in Baleshwar district and expressed confidence that the authorities will find out the wildlife trafficking racket involved in the case.
The special task force has been questioning three people at Digha in neighbouring West Bengal to unravel the mystery of the orangutans, which are not indigenous to India, sources said.
These animals were rescued September 8 from the Bichitrapur forest area.
Since orangutans are non-native to India, state authorities and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) suspect they were smuggled into the country by an international wildlife trafficking network.
“The special task force of the Crime Branch registered a case based on an application by the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF) in connection with the rescue of the five orangutans. The STF has a wildlife wing which deals with such matters and launched a formal probe into the case,” Mishra said.
The officer, also the chief of CID-Crime Branch, said the investigators, who began work Thursday, will make a lot of progress in the next seven to eight days.
The SFT will probe into where the orangutans came from, how they reached the forest, and what the intended destination was.
While expressing confidence in resolving the mystery, Mishra said, “The CID-CB has a record of 100 per cent success in investigations into wildlife cases.”
The five baby orangutans were found by villagers while they were climbing a tree at Bichitrapur forest. Subsequently, the panic-struck animals were rescued by the forest department and brought to Nandankanan Zoological Park in Bhubaneswar Tuesday night. They have been kept in quarantine and provided with all comforts, including toys, swings and music, to become stress-free.
“Keeping in view the circumstantial evidence, the forest department strongly suspects involvement of some international operative in the trafficking of the exotic animals. The traffickers might have used rural roads from West Bengal to Bhogarai in Baleshwar district and avoided the national highway to transport the orangutans,” said Regional Chief Conservator of Forest (RCCF) Prakash Chandra Gogineni.
He said two WCCB teams, one from Bhopal and another from Kolkata, are also probing into how the animals reached Odisha’s forests.
The investigators found out after examining CCTV footage that on the night of September 7, a black SUV passed through a village close to the place from where the orangutans were rescued.
Sources said that STF has been questioning at least three people at the sea resort town of Digha in West Bengal in connection with the case.
Raids are also being conducted at some places in Digha, which is around 18 kilometres from Bichitrapur.
Some evidence suggested that smugglers used the interior road networks of West Bengal and Odisha to evade checking, they said.
While the STF has been focusing on Digha and Bhogarai , the WCCB teams are looking into how the exotic animals crossed the international border.
The forest officials suspect that the animals could have been trafficked from Myanmar through the Northeast into eastern India, taking advantage of the region’s geography.
The STF teams also visited some Marine police stations on the eastern coast to explore the possibility that the animals could have been transported through waterways.
“The involvement of international traffickers is suspected because orangutans are not native to India and they fetch around Rs 20-25 lakh each in the international market. There is also a possibility that the animals were transported through waterways, either in ships or fishing trawlers,” an official said.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi has directed forest and police authorities to crack the alleged trafficking network and ensure Odisha is not used as a transit route for wildlife trafficking.
Meanwhile, PCCF, Wildlife, PK Jha said the animals are stable now.
Asked about the possible return of the orangutans to their native place, Jha said: “Now our priority is to ensure that the rescued animals remain healthy both in body and mind.”
Meanwhile, a state-based Wildlife Society of Odisha demanded immediate repatriation of five rescued infant Orangutans to their native place under India’s obligation under CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).
However, the state government has sought permission from the Central Zoo Authority (CZA) to allow Odisha to retain the rescued exotic animals.