GUWAHATI:
A gunfight broke out between forest personnel and timber smugglers at Dehing Patkai National Park, on May 18.
According to the officials, the security personnel fired gun shots at the smugglers who also retaliated by cross firing at the personnel, leaving some personnel with minor injuries, though nothing serious transpired during the fire exchange.
BV Sandip, divisional forest officer (DFO) of Dibrugarh Forest Division, informed that the operation to thwart the smuggling attempt was based on a tip-off which prompted the forest officials to patrol the location and get hold of the miscreants.
“A team of six forest personnel led by range officer Puspadhar Buragohain conducted an operation in the area following information on felling of trees by smugglers at night. But the smugglers opened fire at the forest officials. The forest personnel also retaliated and the smugglers left the scene immediately,” Sandip said.
“There were no major injuries from any side. The smugglers left the scene immediately after the incident,” he added.
Informing that the smugglers had planned to chop 5-10 trees, the DFO said that generally, timber smuggling gang come from Arunachal Pradesh to fell tree inside the National Park and sell them at a nearby timber mill at Kanubari area.
It may be mentioned that on July 19, 2021, cross firing between forest guards and timber smugglers resulted in the death of an elephant near the site.
After the cross-firing incident, security has been intensified at the park.