Guwahati: Assam Police detained two people connected to rhino horn trading and found a horn in their hands in the Bokakhat region near Kaziranga National Park.
Budheswar Chingte and Bhakta Bahadur Thapa were named as the rhino horn dealers who were detained.
According to reports, local police conducted an operation at Bokakhat Chipahi village on Tuesday and apprehended them both, where the horn was found.
“Police arrested two persons named Budheswar Chingte and Bhakta Bahadur Thapa and recovered a rhino horn weighing about 2 kg. Our investigation is on,” said Dhrubajyoti Nath, Additional Superintendent of Police, Kaziranga as reported by national media.
Rhino poaching, which was once commonplace, has significantly decreased as a result of the authorities’ strict surveillance and other enhanced security measures.
The number of rhinos lost to poachers in 2021 was just 1, the lowest number in 21 years. As many as 27 rhinos were murdered by poachers in 2013 and 2014.
The Assam government publicly burned a stockpile of 2,479 rhino horns in September of last year to send a strong message to poachers that rhino horns have no use as currency or for any therapeutic purposes.
“The use of rhinos’ horns for medicinal purposes is a myth,” Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had then said.