It may seem like the script of a hit Bollywood movie, and has all the elements of a smash-hit blockbuster. But it’s a real-life incident and not one taken from the reel. An arrested rhino poacher in Assam has confessed to mortgaging his son for a .303 rifle and 10 rounds of ammunition.
Nurjamal Rahman, arrested along with two other poachers — Sadikul Islam and Niyamat Ali — from the Orang National Park on Saturday night, confessed before police that he had mortgaged his 12-year-old son with an arms dealer for the rifle and the ammunition.
Nurjamal further told interrogators that the deal was to return the arms dealer Rs 3 lakh after he could kill a rhino and sell the horn to an animal-parts dealer for an astronomical Rs 50 lakh.
“Nurjamal along with his two accomplices met the arms dealer in Dimapur and, after paying a lump-sum amount for the rifle and the ammunition, mortgaged his son for three months,” Orang DFO Ramesh Gogoi told News Live, adding that the plan was to kill a rhino and sell it within the three-month period.
The forester further said that it was Sadikul and another person named Iman Ali who had made the plan to poach rhinos. The blueprint was hatched in Chennai where Sadikul earlier worked and later met Iman. The duo then teamed up with Nurjamal and Niyamat Ali.
Incidentally, Nurjamal, Sadikul and Niyamat hail from Bosa Simalu village under Dhekiajuli Police Station in Sonitpur district. Iman Ali, who is said to have contacts with Dimapur-based arms dealers and animal parts smugglers, is currently absconding.
Nurjamal had admitted to having links with Nagaland-based rhino poaching gangs and said they used to be paid commissions for assisting poachers from the nearby State.
