How you feel when you hold an 3 inch pointed iron tipped, feather tailed two feet straight bamboo arrow in your hand ??, especially when you know that this very arrow in your hand must have been used to knock the life out of a deer, bird, porcupine or a sloth bear !!
It was brought to me by an informer who visited the tribal settlement yesterday. He stayed with the poachers for two days to understand what they do in this remote forest. The findings were shocking as he was taken the places where
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
A Journey beings...
I am again on the move, as usual not disclosing the location as of now for various reasons. I reached here today evening by train. It was five hours journey but was lucky to get a place to sit and sleep after two hours standing near the door.
Met the local contact and another team member from WTI who introduced me to a local taxi driver who will be taking me to the tribal settlement which is about 60 kms away from here.
It is a long time dream to visit this area where he is taking me. This is the very place where they hunt animals and sell the goods to outsiders. As the area is infamous for the presence of militants no one really wanted to sneak around and get information form there.
As an organization, we believe in bringing out the truth based on grass root information and then to find solutions for them. Wildlife crime is such a challenging area, where gathering ground intelligence will take longer time and finding solutions is a tougher task..
Any way.. I have my first break through here in my hand and i am not going to miss this chance. Tomorrow me and other two people are going with this taxi driver to his inlaw's house. ( He married to a tribal girl whom he fallen in love with when he was a poacher in the forest )
For me this is another learning process, and a challenge to myself to test how far i can go. Personally, I am missing a family get together back home where the eldest uncle is celebrating his 70th birthday and I miss the happy moments. I never went to a tribal village without any proper cover and back up. Here i will be going to a place where i could face some trouble and may get screwed up. But this is once in a life time chance and I also love to know how good i am.
Decided to wear a colorful, desi (only indians will understand this word) dress and carry my camera and other equipments in a small bag. Leave one of the informer here in the hotel room, other one is comming along with me. I may come back in the evening and if everything gone well, will stay back in the village enjoying some local brew and building bonds.....
See you later
Met the local contact and another team member from WTI who introduced me to a local taxi driver who will be taking me to the tribal settlement which is about 60 kms away from here.
It is a long time dream to visit this area where he is taking me. This is the very place where they hunt animals and sell the goods to outsiders. As the area is infamous for the presence of militants no one really wanted to sneak around and get information form there.
As an organization, we believe in bringing out the truth based on grass root information and then to find solutions for them. Wildlife crime is such a challenging area, where gathering ground intelligence will take longer time and finding solutions is a tougher task..
Any way.. I have my first break through here in my hand and i am not going to miss this chance. Tomorrow me and other two people are going with this taxi driver to his inlaw's house. ( He married to a tribal girl whom he fallen in love with when he was a poacher in the forest )
For me this is another learning process, and a challenge to myself to test how far i can go. Personally, I am missing a family get together back home where the eldest uncle is celebrating his 70th birthday and I miss the happy moments. I never went to a tribal village without any proper cover and back up. Here i will be going to a place where i could face some trouble and may get screwed up. But this is once in a life time chance and I also love to know how good i am.
Decided to wear a colorful, desi (only indians will understand this word) dress and carry my camera and other equipments in a small bag. Leave one of the informer here in the hotel room, other one is comming along with me. I may come back in the evening and if everything gone well, will stay back in the village enjoying some local brew and building bonds.....
See you later
Monday, November 10, 2008
Location Un disclosed :: Following the Leopard skin trader
" I am publishing this live for you to read !! and hope that the poacher is not techie enough to follow the blog in real time. Now there is a hidden challenge for you also -- find out the location -- before the operation is over from this blog if you can and that will help me "
The informer is currently with the middle man who is taking him to the location where they will meet a trader who promised 10- 12 Leopard skins. The operation is a result of almost one month long intelligence gathering by Wildlife Trust of India's under cover team.
It is 11: 28 am on 11-November ( wow 11:11: 28 , i missed 11:11:11 am !!).
The informer -A- and the middle man -P- left their base location at 10.45 am by bus to the destination after a brief conversation with the trader. The enforcement authorities are listening phone conversations and a the same is transmitted to my phone line also. The more the criminals use mobile phones, they give away leads. Any way... the waiting game is ongoing.
I am relaxing, checked my mails, read the online edition of Hindustan times and Times of India Delhi edition, recharged the Tatasky connection at home, completed a two page investigation report and now planning to watch a DVD, learning to relax myslef so that i am calm when i need to think.
12: 03 pm Date, time and location of delivery is confirmed
I had a chat with the middle man and he confirmed the location as -B- town of the neighboring state. It will be about 8 am in the morning and i am sure that the time will change and even the location also will change tomorrow. We are prepared and now fingers crossed.
08:30 Pm Reached location R, Meeting for Tomorrow.
I crossed the state border and reached Location R and the cops already arranged a room for me in Hotel "24Karrot" ( hmmm.. that is the clue). Had dinner, talked to the middle man and the informer who are reaching Location -BP- where they will meet the main dealer / stockist of the material and then the actual delivery will take place.
06:30 am : Moved to Location BP
Too early to get up and travel in a rattled truck in a November morning. But there is no room for complaints and cry. The journey was about 1 hr and the truck - converted into bus was stuffed with people like a beehive. I met the special operations group cops and we had a quick discussion about the plans for the day.
Me and a cop waited for the informer and the middleman for almost hours in a dusty bus stand, eating three packs of ground nuts as two monkeys with no other jobs, crowded buses came and passed, trucks came and gone.. They never turned up. At last i called up the informer and he told me that they met another man- D- about 3 kms before where we are sitting and they are on the way back to city -M- as the deal is canceled !!.
F*%K !!.
I AM NOT DISAPPOINTED!! (recently i started reading those best sellers which will tell you how to say " Jose you are the best person on planet earth " , standing in-front of a mirror :) ). Nothing new, this is part of the package, things will change - time, date, place of delivery and amounts decided .. never loose your never loose your nerve and be calm... things will happen.
5.00 pm Heading back to Base camp.
Spoke to the dealer -P- and I was not angry with him, sympathized with him, told him that he disappointed me and also mentioned that i spend money on this deal and i am not very happy about this. But the dealer reassured that he will deliver the goods in 10 days.
I packed my bags and spend the next 14 hours in the back seat of a car, going through the longest traffic jam of my life( 15 kms in 5 Hours !!) jointly gifted by the devotees came for an early dip in the holy river "" and fog which lowered the visibility to 4-5 feet.
Latest Update: 17/nov/08
My location is about one day travel away from the location. We had a busy day, met an informer today regarding another operation and We have a train to catch at 2.00 am. Sitting in a hotel room.
The operation is still very much on, the middleman is in touch with one of the undercover cops, thinking that he is my man. The middle man -P- is in touch with one informer and the cop over phone and tomorrow there is a meeting taking place in town -M- between the undercover cop and -P-.
Whatever happens, we are being patient, slow and giving him next seven days to play, and keep watching..... I will have his photo here in the updates for you to watch !!
21/sep/08
The undercover cop called me just few minutes back. Told me that the middle man almost arranged the materials and he will be giving a confirmation by evening about the location of delivery of material and the quantity. Fingers ... crossed ...
I am relaxing, checked my mails, read the online edition of Hindustan times and Times of India Delhi edition, recharged the Tatasky connection at home, completed a two page investigation report and now planning to watch a DVD, learning to relax myslef so that i am calm when i need to think.
12: 03 pm Date, time and location of delivery is confirmed
I had a chat with the middle man and he confirmed the location as -B- town of the neighboring state. It will be about 8 am in the morning and i am sure that the time will change and even the location also will change tomorrow. We are prepared and now fingers crossed.
08:30 Pm Reached location R, Meeting for Tomorrow.
I crossed the state border and reached Location R and the cops already arranged a room for me in Hotel "24Karrot" ( hmmm.. that is the clue). Had dinner, talked to the middle man and the informer who are reaching Location -BP- where they will meet the main dealer / stockist of the material and then the actual delivery will take place.
06:30 am : Moved to Location BP
Too early to get up and travel in a rattled truck in a November morning. But there is no room for complaints and cry. The journey was about 1 hr and the truck - converted into bus was stuffed with people like a beehive. I met the special operations group cops and we had a quick discussion about the plans for the day.
Me and a cop waited for the informer and the middleman for almost hours in a dusty bus stand, eating three packs of ground nuts as two monkeys with no other jobs, crowded buses came and passed, trucks came and gone.. They never turned up. At last i called up the informer and he told me that they met another man- D- about 3 kms before where we are sitting and they are on the way back to city -M- as the deal is canceled !!.
F*%K !!.
I AM NOT DISAPPOINTED!! (recently i started reading those best sellers which will tell you how to say " Jose you are the best person on planet earth " , standing in-front of a mirror :) ). Nothing new, this is part of the package, things will change - time, date, place of delivery and amounts decided .. never loose your never loose your nerve and be calm... things will happen.
5.00 pm Heading back to Base camp.
Spoke to the dealer -P- and I was not angry with him, sympathized with him, told him that he disappointed me and also mentioned that i spend money on this deal and i am not very happy about this. But the dealer reassured that he will deliver the goods in 10 days.
I packed my bags and spend the next 14 hours in the back seat of a car, going through the longest traffic jam of my life( 15 kms in 5 Hours !!) jointly gifted by the devotees came for an early dip in the holy river "" and fog which lowered the visibility to 4-5 feet.
Latest Update: 17/nov/08
My location is about one day travel away from the location. We had a busy day, met an informer today regarding another operation and We have a train to catch at 2.00 am. Sitting in a hotel room.
The operation is still very much on, the middleman is in touch with one of the undercover cops, thinking that he is my man. The middle man -P- is in touch with one informer and the cop over phone and tomorrow there is a meeting taking place in town -M- between the undercover cop and -P-.
Whatever happens, we are being patient, slow and giving him next seven days to play, and keep watching..... I will have his photo here in the updates for you to watch !!
21/sep/08
The undercover cop called me just few minutes back. Told me that the middle man almost arranged the materials and he will be giving a confirmation by evening about the location of delivery of material and the quantity. Fingers ... crossed ...
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