Gangtok: Retired Sikkim Police official Daney Bhutia was apprehended at Bagdogra airport in Siliguri on Thursday afternoon for possession of wildlife articles, including two musk pods and the skin of a flying squirrel. Bhutia, a resident of Tadong in Gangtok, was intercepted in his vehicle while allegedly conducting a transaction with a customer near the North Bengal University gate of Shivmandir in Bagdogra along Asian Highway II, following a tip-off.
The accused was detained by the Bagdogra range of the Directorate of Forests, West Bengal, based on information provided by a concerned citizen who had overheard Bhutia discussing the items with another individual in a local hotel in Siliguri. In response to the complaint, forest officials dispatched a team, leading to the arrest of the individual along with the seized contents.
It appears that Bhutia had collected the items from Chewabhanjyang on the Indo-Nepal border and was en route to selling them to an individual from Delhi at Bagdogra Airport. The musk pods weighed 20 and 25 grams, respectively, while the flying squirrel’s skin weighed 140 grams, with an estimated value of Rs. 2.5 crore.
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Daney was arrested during a phone conversation with an unidentified person, and another individual, said to be his relative, was also detained while inside the car with Daney. Subsequently, Daney was taken to the office of the Bagdogra forest range, where he underwent several hours of questioning. Around 6 pm, he was handed over to Bagdogra police.
The concealed consignment inside the car was packed in plastic bags. When questioned about the consignment, Daney claimed that he intended to transport it to Thailand, Burma, and China.
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