Forest department continues clampdown against inter-State poaching gangs in the Nilgiris

The Nilgiris forest division arrested the prime accused of a four-member gang, that had entered the Nilgiris to hunt wild game in Kundha forest range, near Yedakkadu on Sunday (March 30, 2025).

The forest department said that a team of forest department personnel, headed by forest ranger, B. Srinivasan, were on a routine patrol in the area when they spotted a suspicious-looking group of tourists in a vehicle along the Edakkadu to Kanneri road. During the encounter, the four men tried to escape from the forest department.

Mr. Srinivasan told The Hindu the main accused, identified as 31-year-old Abdul Ameen from Malappuram in Kerala, possessed a loaded country-made weapon and tried to flee from the area when confronted by the forest department. Ameen reportedly pulled the trigger on the weapon by accident and discharged a round from inside the vehicle in which the gang was travelling in, accidentally shattering one of the vehicle’s glass windows.

Forest staff chased the accused and apprehended Abdul Ameen, while the others, identified as P. Basheer, 36, Shafi, 31, and Suneer, 39, all from Vazhikkadavu in Malappuram, fled the scene and are yet to be apprehended. Apart from the country-made weapon, hunting and skinning knives, torchlights, mobile phones and used and unused bullet cartridges were seized from Ameen and from inside the vehicle.

When contacted, Divisional Forest Officer (Nilgiris), S. Gowtham, said the Gudalur and Nilgiris forest divisions, as well as the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), were working together in clamping down on inter-State poaching gangs that have become fully operational within the district, undertaking hunts of wild animals such as Indian gaur and Sambar deer.

“It is a joint effort, and we have succeeded in arresting four such gangs over the last few months operating from Malappuram in Kerala and from Gudalur,” said Mr. Gowtham. Ameen and his associates were part of another group of poachers arrested in Gudalur division on February 28. “While the occupants of one of the cars were arrested, the other car with the rest of the gang managed to escape (on February 28),” said Mr. Gowtham.

The forest department is also working with their counterparts in Kerala in an attempt to clampdown on inter-State poaching gangs, added officials.