The special task force (STF) of Assam police arrested a woman and her son from West Karbi Anglong district in connection with the illegal trade of tiger skin and bones, a police official said on Thursday.

An STF team acting on a tip-off coordinated with the district police and assisted the Wildlife Crime Control Board (WCCB) in nabbing the duo on Wednesday, the police official said.

They were allegedly working as conduits in transporting the contraband tiger
skins and bones to the neighbouring states.

From the neighbouring states the tiger skins and bones are smuggled out of the country, STF additional superintendent of police Kalyan Pathak said.

A racket involving illegal trade in animal parts uses the North East as a transit route to move the contraband items to neighbouring countries, including China and Bangladesh and also to South East Asia, an official said.

On June 29, four persons were apprehended by the police for possessing tiger skin and bones from the Azara area in Kamrup district.

The case involved inter-state ramifications as the animal was poached at Gadchiroli in Maharashtra and its skin and bones were to be transported to Meghalaya for delivery elsewhere, he
said.

The case was handed over to WCCB on August 8 and a case was registered under various sections of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, the official added.

PTI