Tibetans get five years for wildlife crime WTI-New Delhi, November 17, 2007:

New Delhi, November 17, 2007: In one of the shortest trials in Indian wildlife crime history, three foreigners- two Tibetans and a Nepalese national were sentenced to five years’ Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) by a Delhi Court today. The three were also ordered to pay a fine of Rs 10,000 each, in default of which they would have to face an additional three months imprisonment.

The Tibetans - Tashi alias Anand and Lobsang Phuntsok, and the Nepali citizen Jeet Bahadur were arrested in the Indian Capital on April 6, 2005, with a cache of 45 leopard skins and 14 otter skins. They claimed to be working for Tchhwang Tashi Tsering, who is reportedly serving a jail term in Nepal for a wildlife offence. Tchhwang, a Nepali National is known to work for the notorious wildlife trader Sansar Chand.

Ashok Kumar, Vice Chairman, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) said that “It is unfortunate that the mastermind of the wildlife trade Tashi Tsering (also known as Tchhwang) has not stood trial in India because of the lack of an extradition treaty with Nepal. There is an Interpol Red Corner Notice for his arrest pending for over a decade.

This crime was investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the Delhi Police and with technical support from the WTI. The Prosecution was led by Rajan Dahiya, Advocate for the CBI and assisted by Saurabh Sharma, WTI lawyer. Because of the strong opposition by the CBI counsel, Harish Gulati, no bail was granted to the accused despite four appeals by the defence lawyer. The three were convicted on November 12 by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate of Delhi, Alok Agarwal.

This is the first case in which Tibetan nationals in exile have been convicted and sentenced for a wildlife crime in India. Ten witnesses were examined in the trial which ended after about two and half years of initiation. Ironically, the three were arrested on the very day that His Holiness, the Dalai Lama launched the anti-wildlife campaign of the Care for the Wild International and WTI with the statement that ‘the law of the land has to prevail.’ On November 12, 2007, the irony continued as the three were convicted on the very day the Dalai Lama was in the Capital to give a speech to students of Jawaharlal Nehru University.