By IANS
Kathmandu : Three Kashmiris were arrested in Nepal for selling shawls made from shahtoosh, the wool of an endangered Tibetan chiru antelope, trading in which is banned world over.
Kathmandu Police Tuesday arrested Shaukat Ahmad Nazar, 46, Mohammad Alam, 37, and Mudassar Alachchi, 23, from two upmarket tourist hubs in the capital.
Shahtoosh is regarded as the finest and warmest kind of wool, with a shawl costing nearly $2000. Buyers here are generally well-heeled western tourists.
Poachers kill about three to five chirus to produce one shawl that has threatened the existence of the antelope found in Tibetan plateaus.
The three men, who have been residing in Kathmandu for over five years and are the residents of Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar, were caught from two handicraft shops in Thamel and Lazimpat areas of the capital. They have been sent to the custody of Nepal's forest department for further investigation.
Superintendent of Police Devendra Subedi said 19 shahtoosh shawls were recovered from the two shops.
According to police sources, the shawls were smuggled into Nepal from Jammu and Kashmir.
Nepal is becoming a transit point for shahtoosh products smuggled from Kashmir as well as other illegal wildlife products from China and Pakistan.
Nepal is a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and therefore bound to prevent and punish trade in endangered animal parts.
"The three men knew what they were doing is illegal," Subedi said. "The high price of the shawls is enough to indicate that."