The Hyderabad police uncovered a massive racket on Wednesday and seized the meat of two black bucks, 24 quails, 7 hares and 2 water birds, after it arrested one Syed Zameer, a resident of Jahanuma who ran a mutton shop.
According to the police, 32-year-old Syed was running a meat shop at Murgi Chowk for the past 6 to 7 years, and was a resident of Falaknuma.
Around two years ago, he came in contact with one Ramesh, who was from Toopran. The police said that Ramesh instigated Syed to assist him in selling the meat of wild animals in Hyderabad, and lured him with huge profits.
As Syed's earnings were not sufficient to meet his family expenditure, he agreed to Ramesh's offer and began selling the meat of wild animals from his house.
“A team of our officials went to the village Dandupally in Toopran mandal of Medak district, posing as prospective buyers. A person, Rajesh, was approached and apprehended along with three partridges,” Divisional Forest Officer of Hyderabad, CP Vinod Kumar told the media.
According to a report in the Times of India, Ramesh used to trap wild animals, including endangered species, from forests in Nizamabad and Karimnagar.
“We are trying to cull out specific information from P Ramesh who is the kingpin of the wild animals meat racket, the modus-operandi is yet to be found out,” Shiva Prasad Deputy Range Officer of Forest Department told TOI.
A case has been booked and investigation is underway.
Just last month, two spotted deer were found dead in the trunk of a car in Palimela forest area in Telangana's Mahadevpur mandal.
According to reports, Forest Department officials intercepted a car on a tip-off, only to be threatened at gunpoint by poachers, who fled later.
The officials found the carcasses of two spotted deer - one male, and one pregnant female. The carcasses had bullet injuries and their necks were slit.
Following this, a post-mortem was conducted, and a case was registered under various sections of the Wildlife Protection Act.
On March 25, police arrested the main accused N Satyanarayana, a former employee of Singareni and two hunters, besides seizing weapons and ammunition from them.
The incident had exposed the larger problem of illegal hunting and the demand for meat of these animals in the two Telugu states.
“The well oiled network of tribals-hunters and traders in Telangana and AP accounts for a minimum sale of 10 tonnes of wild meat of deer and black buck and two tonnes of skins every quarter,” a senior forest department official told Firstpost.