By IANS
Kathmandu : A group of Indian tricksters, who had been deceiving people with fake wildlife organs, learnt their lesson when the trick landed them in a Nepal prison.
Twenty people, including eight women, were caught in Mahendranagar town in far-west Nepal’s Kanchanpur district over a month ago on the suspicion they were trading in endangered wildlife organs.
The gypsy-like group was selling what they claimed to be deer musk, elephant tails, tiger claws and fox organs.
They were arrested by officials of the Shuklaphanta wildlife reserve and sent to prison while investigations began.
However, after Nepal’s premier science and research academy in Kathmandu tested the confiscated “wildlife organs”, it found them to be fakes.
Subsequently, the Indian group was released Thursday, after they had been cooling their heels behind bars for 40 days. The government decided not to press fraud charges against them.
While the gypsies were released, Maoist guerrillas took another Indian captive in the same district on the suspicion that he was trying to smuggle timber out of Nepal.
Karibir Singh Karki was caught in the Brahmadeva area, reports said. Karki was said to be an employee of the Tanakpur community forest in India.