Five arrested for poaching in Nizamabad, rifles, silencers, other equipment seized

HYDERABAD: The Telangana Forest Department officials nabbed five persons accused of poaching on Sunday after they raided a rice mill at Jokora village in Nizamabad district. The officials found a skinned Black-naped hare, two rifles with telescope and silencers, searchlights, night-vision binoculars, knives, 142 rounds of bullets among other things. 

The group of five persons include Luqman Affendi (47) from Gudimalkapur in Hyderabad, who is a member of the National Rifle Association of India and his brother Imran Affendi (50). The other three persons nabbed were Md Sharukh Khan (23), Shaik Raaz Ahmad (43) and Md Jameeluddin (61) who worked for Luqman Affendi. 

In a video released by the forest department, Luqman Affendi confessed of going to the forest for the sake of hunting. 

Telangana forest department, DFO Vigilance, M Raja Ramana Reddy, who headed the operation told TNIE that Luqman Affendi is a habitual offender, who would often visit the Affendi Binny Rice Mill at Varni Road in Nizamabad and proceed for hunting wild animals in nearby forest areas. During questioning, he confessed to having hunted blackbuck and spotted deer earlier. Affendi regularly used to invite his friends from Hyderabad for hunting wild animals. 

"We have been keeping an eye on Luqman Affendi. On Saturday night around 11.30 pm, he started from the rice mill and returned around 4.30 am. Around 4.55 am we raided the rice mill and caught all of them with the skinned Black-naped hare, two sports rifles and sophisticated equipment like silencers," Reddy said.

Simultaneous raids were conducted in Nizamabad qne the house of Luqman Affendi at Gudimalkapur in Hyderabad and found meat stored in a deep freeze, packed in plastic bags. Meat samples were sent to the Center for Cellular and Molecular Biology to find out if they belonged to any wild animal. The forest staff also found two rifle butts which were taken into custody.

The forest department in a press release on Sunday said that the five accused will be produced before the court for remand for hunting of wild animals and other violations under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. It also said that all equipment, a vehicle and wild meat seized during the raid were transferred to the Nizamabad district forest officials. 

Hunting of the Black-naped hare, a scheduled-IV animal is punishable under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 with imprisonment up to 3 years or fine up to Rs. 25,000 or both.