Paramilitary guards on the India-Myanmar border have seized a consignment of deer antlers in the northeastern state of Manipur.

The illegal consignment apparently originated in Orissa and was bound for China.

The Assam Rifles (AR) personnel seized it just when it was being smuggled into Myanmar.

The AR personnel arrested the driver of the truck that carried the consignment to Moreh, a town on the India-Myanmar border in Manipur.  

Col L M Pant, a spokesman of the AR, stated that the personnel of the paramilitary force seized eight cartons of deer antlers when the consignment was being unloaded from a truck at Moreh. The truck’s driver, Laishram Panthoi, is a resident of the border-town. “We have handed over the consignment and the driver to the wildlife officials of the state government,” said Col Pant.

Sources said preliminary investigations indicated that the consignment had come from Orissa and was on its way to China through Myanmar.

Rising demand
“Deer antlers – like other organs of wild animals – are in great demand in both Myanmar and China, where it is used to make traditional medicines,” said wildlife activist Azam Siddiqui.

The State’s chief wildlife warden A K Rana said a team of officials had left for Moreh to interrogate the driver of the truck and bring the seized consignment to the capital town, Imphal. Moreh is a busy border-trade point between India and Myanmar.

The wildlife officials and activists suspect that the wildlife traffickers take advantage of the porous border to smuggle illegal consignments to Myanmar and China.

“Myanmar has been a hub of illegal wildlife trade in South Asia. The forest and wildlife officials in Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram are not adequately equipped to keep vigil all along the border,” said Mr Siddiqui, who is a master-trainer in animal welfare with the Animal Welfare Board of India.

This is for the first time that such a huge consignment of animal parts has been seized on the India-Myanmar border.

Mr Siddiqui said that the wildlife officials should thoroughly investigate into the case and track down the international racket.

“If necessary, the state government should  take help from the central agencies,” he added.