Dumling (Darchula), June 7:

Smuggling of body parts of rare animals to China by Nepali, Indian and Tibetan smugglers via Tinker transit point here is on the rise. Smugglers managed to slip in a huge amount of such animal parts to Taklakot without any hindrance in the third week of May. The District Forest Office (DFO) couldn’t do anything about it, district forest officer Krishna Datta Bhatta said. Though security forces have been stationed at the Tinker transit point, the smugglers take a different route to Tibet.

The range post at Tinker, which was displaced during the Maoist conflict, has still not been re-established. This has led to the rise in smuggling in this area, DFO Bhatta said.

He added that while information was received about a large quantity of tiger bones reaching Taklakot in April, authorities made no move to nab the smugglers.

He added that the DFO has collected the names of 24 smugglers, including two women, and is keeping an eye on them.

The smugglers pay local porters up to Rs 14,000 per sack to take the smuggled items to Lipu Lek. Tiger skins can be bought for up to Rs 5,00,000, while pieces of bones sell for as high as Rs 32,000 in Taklakot.

Tigers in Bardiya, Shukla Phanta and Chitwan National Park in Nepal are being killed by the smugglers.

According to a former poacher, Maoists used to assist the poachers till last year. Darchula chief district officer Yagya Raj Bohora said police have been deployed at Ghyalek of Byans to nab poachers. Armed Police Force also will be deployed there if needed, he added.