GANDHINAGAR: The Gujarat CID (Crime) police have claimed that they have busted a gang of lion poachers in the Gir sanctuary, only abode of the Asiatic Lions, in the Saurashtra region.

While the police are tight-lipped over the progress of the investigation, they brought one of the arrested beat guards to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) here on Thursday to subject him to lie-detector and polygraph tests.

The police admitted that beat guard Noor Mohammad Baloach, who was arrested on Monday, revealed very little about the alleged poaching of at least six lions and cubs in the past one month. The FSL authorities said it would take a couple of days before the tests on him were completed and a report would be sent to the Junagadh police for further investigation.

Lion claws recovered

The arrest led to the detention of two persons — retired forest range officer A Makrani and another beat guard, Razzaq Baloach. The police claimed to have recovered lion claws from their homes.

Both Noor Mohammad and Razzaq are residents of Babariya village, where the remains of six lions were found — three on March 3 and three on March 30. All the six were believed to have been trapped and poisoned.

Chief Minister Narendra Modi has asked Minister of State for Forests Mangubhai Patel and Minister of State for Home Amit Shah to visit Gir.

The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests is also likely to send a team to Gir later this week.

Police vigil

The State Government on Thursday transferred Babariya range deputy forest officer Kashyap Shukla to Gandhinagar. In addition to the forest personnel, the Junagadh police have been asked to keep a vigil on the roads leading to and from the Gir sanctuary.

An official spokesman said a gang of at least eight to 10 were active in the sanctuary and they could have taken the help of "insiders," the beat guards and retired forest officers to locate the lions within the 1,400 sq. km sanctuary and set up traps

The authorities are now worried about five "missing lions," which were members of the Babariya range pride with 29 animals.

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