Overview
- Yangchen Lachungpa was detained on December 2 in Lachung, North Sikkim, in a joint operation by the Madhya Pradesh State Tiger Strike Force and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau after an Interpol Red Notice was issued on October 2.
- She was taken to Gangtok for a medical examination, produced in court on December 3, denied bail, and granted transit remand for proceedings in Narmadapuram, Madhya Pradesh.
- The arrest revives a 2015 Madhya Pradesh case that uncovered tiger bones, tiger skin, tiger bone oil, and 1.5 kg of pangolin scales in the Satpura Tiger Reserve.
- Investigators attribute a key role to Lachungpa in a transnational network with links to Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan, with routes spanning Indian cities such as Delhi, Siliguri, Gangtok, Kolkata, Kanpur, Itarsi and Hoshangabad.
- Officials say Lachungpa earlier violated bail in 2017 and evaded a 2019 warrant, and officers reported recovering phones and a coded diary after a tense village-council challenge that complicated the arrest in Lachung.