Wildlife smuggler caught in Kathmandu after 15 years

Amidst reports of a rise in wildlife poaching during the COVID-19 lockdown, Nepal has arrested the notorious ringleader of a gang accused of smuggling pelts and bones of Indian tigers via Nepal to China for decades.

In 1999, Indian security forces confiscated a hoard of endangered animal parts in Ghaziabad near Delhi. Those caught during the seizure named a Nepali accomplice named ‘Kunjok’ as the main mastermind of the smuggling ring.

Since then, poachers caught during every big seizure have taken the name of Kunjok as the main ringleader. Interpol had been on the lookout for him for decades.

Nepal Police finally caught him in the Baudha neighbourhood of Kathmandu on 25 June. On Sunday he was handed over to Langtang National Park which presented him at the Rasuwa District Court and was remanded in custody.

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In 2005, a Nepal Army patrol guarding the Langtang National Park caught four people trying to transport 5 tiger pelts, 36 leopard skins and 113kg of tiger bones being taken to the Chinese border in a truck. They also named Kunjok Lama, Nudup Lama and Dondhip Lama as the main masterminds.

The Park warden at the time sentenced in absentia two of the accused to 15 years and one to five years in prison, and released one of those caught. The sentences were upheld by an Appeals Court and the Supreme Court.

The Langtang National Park provided details about Kunjok to the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB), which led to a 15 year long search that finally ended last week in Baudhha with the arrest of Kunjok Lama, who is originally from Humla district.

“Every time we caught smugglers with wildlife contraband, they kept taking Kunjok’s name,” recalls DIG Sahakul Thapa of the Bureau.I

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The other name that kept cropping up was of a Jimi Sherpa, aka Lodu Dimey. In 2005, police seized another truck bound for the Chinese border in Rasuwa which had five tiger pelts and bones hidden inside. Those caught named ‘Dimey’ as the ringleader.

Police then raided Dimey’s house in Bauddha and seized nearly Rs4 million in cash as well as Indian, Chinese and US currency notes. In a stash of wildlife contraband in the house they also found four human skulls that are also in demand in Tibet for various rituals.

Police filed a case against Dimey, his wife Diki, driver Nakul Tamang and vehicle owner Suk Bahadur Tamang at the District Forest Office in Nuwakot which fined Dimey Rs100,000 his wife Rs60,000 in absentia while the other two were released on Rs100,000 bail.

In 2013, the Patan Appeals court sentenced Dimey, who was still at large, to five years in prison. With help from Interpol, Dimey was finally caught in New Delhi after investigations showed him to be involved in poaching tigers in national parks in Madhya Pradesh.

He was flown back to Kathmandu. But in 2018, the Supreme Court asked him to pay a paltry Rs45,000 fine, and released him.

Although dismayed, Police started investigating the links between Dimey and Kunjok. They found out that he was born in Dehradun, and had been under investigation in India itself for various crimes, including making Nepal a collection centre for wildlife contraband from India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka for smuggling into China.

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“Both had the same modus operandi, both are named in numerous wildlife smuggling cases in India, we are now in the process of dismantling their crossborder network,” DSP Thapa told Nepali Times. “The arrest of Kunjok will lead us to Dimey.”

Dimey is said to own a lot of property in India, with four apartments and houses in Delhi. Police records show he has offices and homes in Noida Sector 29 Ganga Shopping Complex and CR Park Kalaji.

Indian CIB is said to be looking at his links to various investments in Delhi, including a franchise for Crazy Muncha spa, and IT companies.

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Big haul of wildlife in Bajura

Meanwhile Nepal Police uncovered a stash of wildlife contraband in a house in remote Bajura district, one of the biggest seizures yet in the district.

Police had got a tipoff that there were some leopard pelts in the house owned by a Lal Bahadur Buda, and had kept the site under surveillance.

On 22 June, a police unit under the command of DSP Tanka Prasad Bhattarai raided the house. Although Budha managed to escape, police found a storeroom full of endangered wildlife parts.

The stash included leopard heads and pelts, skins of mountain goats, bear gall bladders, dear antlers and hooves.

Police suspect Budha used to collect wildlife poached in western Nepal and transport the consignments in bulk to Kathmandu to be taken into China via Rasuwa. Three local members of Budha’s ring have been arrested and presented to the District Forest Office.

“The population of leopards has been increasing because of the expansion of forests, and they have also been coming out of the forests to raid farms, which makes it easier to trap them,” explained DSP Bhattarai, who said police was investigating the house owner and his links to smuggling rings in Kathmandu.

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