Lid off vendor role in rhino poaching

Rhino horn traders are camping at Lahorijan along the Assam-Nagaland border near Dimapur in the guise of vegetable vendors and buying horns from poachers near national parks.

This came to light following the arrest of two persons — Azijur Rahman and Abdul Rashid — at Sootea in Sonitpur district last night. The duo admitted to buying one horn from Behali in the district last month and selling it to buyers at Dimapur.

Sootea police said four persons had come from Lahorijan to buy another rhino horn in a Maruti Alto last night but lost their way and was caught by local people. While two managed to escape, locals managed to apprehend the duo and hand them over to the police.

Five geckos rescues by Assam Rifles at Moreh

Joining the multi-pronged drive against the increasing poaching and smuggling of tokay geckos in the state, Assam Rifles personnel seized five geckos meant to be smuggled to China via Myanmar from two smugglers at the border town of Moreh.

Personnel of 9 Assam Rifles launched an operation to curb such smuggling and apprehended the two, along with five specimen of the rare reptile species, at Moreh Gate No 2 on Monday, said Assam Rifles officials here on Thursday.

The geckos were supposed to be smuggled from Moreh to Myanmar and were to be sent to China, the statement said, adding that the estimated cost of a gecko is about Rs 30,000 to Rs 40,000 in the local (grey) market.

2 held for rice smuggling

A CID sleuth, acting on a tip-off on Wednesday, busted a gang involved in smuggling rice supplied by the Food Corporation of India for mid-day meals and BPL families.

The sleuth caught two youths in the case and seized at least 200 bags of rice from a truck near the Boragaon LP School here. Each bag contained 50kg of rice. The youths were identified as Munin Deka (24) and Mujakir Hussain (19), both hailing from Bihata Chariali in Kamrup district.

"There is a huge food smuggling racket going on in the state, especially of rice allotted to various cooperatives for distribution in schools for mid-day meal and to BPL families. There are gangs from Baihata Chariali, Nalbari, Changsari and some other parts of lower Assam that are involved in selling this rice in the black market of Meghalaya," said a CID official.