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Czechs remanded for smuggling insects

Marcus Dam

KOLKATA: Two Czech nationals, held for allegedly smuggling specimens of beetles and moths from the northern range of the Singalila National Park in Darjeeling district on June 22, were remanded to judicial custody by a local court at a special session on Wednesday after their pleas for bail were rejected for the second time.

The insects were found in the possession of the two men, Peter Svacha and Emil Kucera — both in their Fifties — when forest officials visited them in a local hotel after being tipped off by the staff of the national park.

“Collecting specimens from a national park without proper permission is banned under the Wild Life Protection Act 1972 even if it might be for scientific studies. We have informed the National Wildlife Crime Bureau of the developments,” Sumita Ghatak, Divisional Forest Officer, Wildlife Division I, told The Hindu over telephone from Darjeeling.

One of the men claimed to be a scientist and the other a forester.

Larvae and pupa as well as equipment for capturing insects were recovered from the two men, Ms. Ghatak said.

They were first produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court in Darjeeling on June 23 and were remanded to judicial custody till the next date of hearing that was fixed for July 7. But owing to the unrest in the region, the hearing did not take place and a special hearing was arranged on Wednesday where their bail pleas were rejected, said Dipankar Ghosh, senior coordinator, Worldwide Fund for Nature, India, overseeing Darjeeling district and Sikkim from Gangtok.

“One of the species seized from the men is listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act that makes it one among others to be enjoying the highest legal protection,” Mr. Ghosh added.

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