Two held with bile of Himalayan black bear

Dutta shows a packet containing the bile.
Picture by Biplab Basak

TT, Jalpaiguri: The special task force of the Bengal forest department seized bile of the Himalayan black bear that was hidden in a diaper a child was wearing and arrested two Bhutan nationals from Jaigaon on the India-Bhutan border on Thursday night.

A woman, who was suspected to be a third member of the smuggling racket, managed to escape with the child.

"We had a tip-off and reached Manglabari near Jaigaon. We spotted them and soon, searched their belongings. However, we could not find anything. Suddenly, we felt suspicious seeing the heavy diaper the child was wearing," said Sanjoy Dutta, the range officer of the task force. The child was sleeping in the woman's lap. As foresters asked her to give the diaper to them, she handed it over. The foresters found three plastic pouches, each containing around 300 grams of the bear's bile, in the diaper. "The Himalayan black bear's bile has a huge demand on the international market and is known to be used in some traditional medicines. The group had plans to smuggle it to Nepal from where it would have been sent to Thailand," said the forester. Those arrested have been identified as T T Namgyal and Lolo, both residents of Bhutan..