International wildlife criminal wanted under INTERPOL Red Notice arrested in Sikkim

The Madhya Pradesh State Tiger Strike Force (MP STSF), in a coordinated operation with the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), has arrested an international wildlife offender wanted under an INTERPOL Red Notice, the Environment Ministry said on Friday.

Yangchen Lachungpa was arrested on December 2 from Lachung in North Sikkim, after sustained intelligence efforts and coordinated ground action.

The ministry said Lachungpa is a resident of Lachung and a key member of an organised trafficking network with links to Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan and operations across several Indian cities, including Delhi, Siliguri, Gangtok, Kolkata, Kanpur, Itarsi and Hoshangabad.

This is one of the most significant wildlife-crime arrests in the country linked to an INTERPOL Red Notice, it said.

The WCCB, acting as India's INTERPOL Liaison Office, had secured the Red Notice for Lachungpa on October 2.

“The operation was carried out with full cooperation from Sikkim Police, Forest Department, Judiciary, and District Administration, and also received support from SSB in Sikkim and Siliguri for secure transit arrangements, in view of heightened public sentiment,” the ministry said.

Officials took Lachungpa to Gangtok for a mandatory medical examination and produced her before a competent court on December 3. The court rejected her bail plea and granted transit remand to Madhya Pradesh, the ministry said, adding that further proceedings will take place in Narmadapuram.

The Madhya Pradesh forest department had registered a case regarding poaching and illegal trade of tiger body parts and pangolin scales on July 13, 2015, in the Kamti range of the Satpura Tiger Reserve in Hoshangabad (now Narmadapuram). Seizures included four pieces of tiger bones, 1.5 kg of pangolin scales, tiger skin and tiger bone oil extract.

The ministry said another key accused, Jai Tamang, arrested in October 2015, confessed that he supplied wildlife contraband to Lachungpa, who also provided him shelter.

Of the 36 people named in the case, the Chief Judicial Magistrate at Narmadapuram convicted 27 on December 20, 2022. The proceedings against Lachungpa did not take place as she was absconding.

The MP STSF had briefly apprehended Lachungpa in September 2017, but she violated the bail conditions and absconded, prompting an arrest warrant to be issued against her on July 29, 2019.

After she continued to evade authorities, the WCCB sought an INTERPOL Red Notice through the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The ministry said Lachungpa is a significant relay point in transnational trafficking of wildlife contraband, especially tiger parts.