Skip to content Skip to navigation

487 kg ivory seized in Delhi

New Delhi seems to have turned into a safe den of international smugglers where forest. Of late, it has become a route of racketeers where wild animal parts are smuggled. A joint team of Kerala forest department, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and Delhi Police seized 487 kg of ivory during an operation in the national capital on Monday.

The covert operation was conducted is the result of the Operation Shikar where a person was arrested on October 2. Identified as Umesh Aggrawal, he was believed to have made the huge revelation during interrogation who is suspected to be the kingpin of the illegal ivory trade. This came to light from the detailed analysis of call records of middlemen and poachers from Kerala, where wild elephants were poached. The suspect was taken to Kerala where several cases are registered against him. 

 ‘Operation Shikar’ was initiated soon after the discovery of organized elephant poaching in Kerala in the month of June after which two persons, Ajir Brite and Preston were arrested.  The investigation team used human and digital intelligence to track the movement of suspects and build the linkages and actionable intelligence was handed over to the strike teams who conducted covert operation through which the two suspects Brite and Preston were nabbed. They used to supply ivory to Aggrawal.

 The trader, Aggrawal is a well to do businessman dealing in art and collectibles was operating his business from a three storied house in a posh locality of Delhi. A fully equipped carving unit was operational at the basement of his house where the authorities suspect the artisans turned ivory into high valued ivory articles to be exported. 

 The suspect confessed his involvement in the illegal trade of ivory from the 90s. He used his company ‘Art of India’ which dealt in various artefacts from India to other countries and mixed ivory and ivory articles along with sandstone and resin statues to avoid detection. He also openly manufactured and displayed articles which looked and felt like ivory in various art exhibitions to attract customers for genuine ivory products. 

 During the course of investigations, he confessed about hiding ivory and ivory articles in a rented room in East Delhi. He also gave a sketch of the location, marking the building in which he kept the ivory and ivory article which was kept in side his house. He was compelled to move the illegal goods to a safe house to avoid the detection of the same from his house after learning about the arrest of Ajir Brite and Preston who supplied ivory to him.

 He used one of his employees to organize a room to store the goods.  The owners of the house were informed that the goods in the wooden boxes were just plastic items.  Umesh used his own SUV and rented vehicles to move the ivory from his house to the secret place, locked the room and kept the key with him.  He paid the rent by cash and occasionally checked the goods. 

 Once the presence of ivory in a secret location was confirmed, a team was formed and moved to Delhi on the night of October 10.  Next day morning, with the help of Delhi police, a trap was laid and the rented room was raided.

The confession statements, direct and indirect evidences collected from the seizure location in the past few months already provided strong evidences and leads about other people who are involved in the ivory trade. Umesh also confessed that many Indians were his clients and their details are also being verified.  During the investigation it was also discovered that Umesh used to palm off fake ivory substitutes made of resin to unsuspecting clients in the name of ivory.

 The IFAW-WTI team member who assisted the enforcement agencies during the entire operation says, “Delhi police provided exceptional support to the entire operation with both the SHOs of Shakarpur and Jaffarabad ensured that the team got the much needed protection and operational support.  We also will be ensuring legal support to the case through our expert lawyers to ensure pro-conservation judgments in this case”.

 

Author info

Subhamoy Bhattacharjee's picture

Add new comment

Random Stories

Two KNP bound youths arrested with arms from Nagaland

4 Apr 2012 - 4:43am | editor
Police arrested two persons on their way to Kaziranga National Park, along with arms and ammunition have been arrested in Assam's Jorhat district. The duo, who were travelling on a motorcycle,...

Arms & ammunition recovered at Haflong

7 Apr 2013 - 7:32pm | Anup Biswas
In a joint operation by Police and 25 Assam Riffle huge caches of arms and ammunition was recovered 150 mt from railway track near Nutan Basti, Haflong at about 7 pm on Saturday. The recoveries...

Sensational revelations

16 Apr 2015 - 1:33pm | AT News
Many sensational revelations seem to have surfaced when police raided the rent house of Anil Chauhan on Thursday.Acting on Rita Chauhan’s confessional statement policemen conducted a raid at their...

College girl abducted at Dimakuchi

16 Jul 2017 - 8:29am | AT Staff Reporter
In a sensational case of suspected 'Love Jihadi' activity,a fourth semi star college going girl of Dimakuchi college in Udalguri district has been missing since May 31.According to...

Other Contents by Author

‘Jamuna’, a female rhino that had been rehabilitated into the wild by Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Assam Forest Department in 2010, has given birth to her second calf in Manas National Park, the UNESCO World Heritage Site, on Sunday morning. The calf was first seen by frontline forest staff of the Bansbari Range during their early morning patrol. Its presence was later confirmed by a field team of IFAW-WTI’s Greater Manas Conservation Project, comprising Dr Bhaskar Choudhury, WTI's Head Veterinarian (North East) and the project-in-charge, and animal keeper Debajit Saikia. “This is the sixth calf born to the rhinos rehabilitated...
It’s been a year since Kaziranga National Park was inundated by the worst floods to have hit Assam in over a decade. Among the 100-plus wild animal emergencies that CWRC (the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation: the wildlife rescue, treatment and rehabilitation centre run by Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Assam Forest Department near Kaziranga) and its Mobile Veterinary Service units attended during the floods last year, were eight orphaned rhino calves that were rescued and brought to the centre to be hand-raised. The simultaneous long-term care of eight rhinos has been a massive challenge for the team at CWRC. In...
A convention of the Asian Elephant Specialist Group (AsESG), the IUCN (World Conservation Union) Species Survival Commission’s voluntary group of experts for the management and conservation of Asia's elephants, will get underway at Guwahati on November 10-12. The three-day convention will be attended by representatives of 11 Asian elephant range countries as well as presenters and observers from ‘non-elephant’ countries like the United Kingdom and United States of America.
Dr Dhrubajyoti Borah, President, Asam Sahitya Sabha, released the Poetry special issue of Eka Ebong Koekjan, the foremost Bengali literary journal from North East, before an august gathering of writers and intellectuals at Karmasree Hiteswar Saikia Auditorium, Pandu on Sunday. Dr Borah lauded Eka Ebong Koekjan for its untiring efforts through 37 long years to disseminate the richness and diversity of the literature of Assam and the North East to the greater Bengali diaspora. He said that literature has a unifying and harmonising role to play in building up a greater Assamese society incorporating diverse linguistic and ethnic groups in its fold. He defined ‘Asomiya’ as one who is...
Mobile Veterinary Service (MVS) units of the Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) – the wildlife rescue, care and rehabilitation facility jointly run by Wildlife Trust of India (WTI), Assam Forest Department (AFD) and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) – have attended 107 wildlife rescue cases in the ongoing flood crisis in Kaziranga National Park as of August 1. Kaziranga, one of India’s UNESCO world heritage sites, has faced a major wildlife crisis this year due to what are being described as the worst floods in a decade. As large areas of the park are inundated in the annual monsoon floods, wild animals seek higher ground across National Highway 37...
Pramila Rani Brahma, Environment and Forests minister of newly formed Assam government visited Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC), the wildlife care facility jointly run by Assam Forest Department, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) as part of her two-days visit to Kaziranga National Park on Thursday.
Their Royal Highnesses William and Catherine, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, this afternoon visited IFAW-WTI’s Centre for Wildlife Rehabilitation and Conservation (CWRC) near Kaziranga National Park, Assam. CWRC, run by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) and the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) with support from the Assam Forest Department, is the only facility in India where orphaned and/or injured wild animals of several species are hand-raised and/or treated and subsequently returned to the wild. As of March 2016 the Centre had handled 4,322 animal cases, with 2,465 being released back to the wild – a rehabilitation rate of nearly 60 percent. Their Royal Highnesses...
Ashok Kumar, Founder & Chairman Emeritus, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) was honoured with the Sanctuary Legend Award at the prestigious Earth Heroes event held at NTPA auditorium in Mumbai today. The Legend Award is a new honour started by Sanctuary this year. With a career in wildlife spanning over five decades Ashok Kumar’s contribution to conservation is immeasurable. A pioneer in many ways, he has a strong hand in ensuring that Sansar Chand, the most dangerous wildlife trader ever to have operated in India, stayed behind bars. He set up TRAFFIC in India and conducted a milestone seizure of tiger derivatives during his tenure there. At a time when nobody spoke about seeking...
In a first of its kind sensitization programme on Asiatic black bears, 14 youth from Shergaon - a small but important area in Arunachal Pradesh – were taken on an exposure visit to IFAW-WTI run Centre for Bear Rehabilitation and Conservation (CBRC) in Pakke Tiger Reserve. At CBRC, the visitors were briefed about the importance and need for conservation of wildlife and bio-diversity in Arunachal Pradesh. Shergaon falls in the West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh and the residents are predominantly Sherdukpten, a tribe Buddhist by religion. To effectively spread the message of wildlife conservation among the villagers of Shergaon, IFAW-WTI partnered with a local NGO named Garung Thuk....
In a covert operation assisted by WTI, Hari Singh and Munni, husband and wife, were apprehended in Gwalior and 27.5 kgs of pangolin scales were seized from them. It is a huge development in busting the pangolin trade racket since they are a crucial link to the trade that has been flourishing for the last few years. Madhya Pradesh Forest Department (MPFD) in co-operation with Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) was able to apprehend the accused after a regular and steady surveillance using phone and modern tracking devices. Pangolin scales are high on demand for various reasons and the trade has been going on for several years. However, this has been the first major development in busting...