Interpol issues Red Corner notice against Nepalese kingpin in MP tiger poaching case

 

 

 

 

 

In a major breakthrough for wildlife enforcement in Madhya Pradesh, the Interpol headquarters in France has issued a Red Corner notice against international tiger smuggler Dharke Lama alias Turke Lama, a resident of Humla, Nepal. Lama has been absconding for the past ten years and is the prime accused in the illegal poaching of a tiger from Satpura Tiger Reserve and the trafficking of its bones to China.

 

The action follows consistent co-ordination between India’s enforcement agencies and Interpol, led by the State Tiger Strike Force (STSF) under the directive of Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav. The Red Corner notice aims to facilitate Lama’s arrest and extradition to India to face trial in the 2015 poaching case registered in Narmadapuram district. Taking charge of the sensitive case, the

 

STSF had launched a rigorous and scientific investigation that exposed an entire smuggling syndicate. In a massive crackdown, 30 accused were arrested, and after a detailed trial, 29 were convicted in December 2022 by the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) of Narmadapuram.

 

They were sentenced to five years of rigorous imprisonment and fined a total of Rs 7.10 lakh. Notably, another international smuggler in the same case, Tashi Sherpa, was apprehended in January 2024 from Siliguri, near the India-Nepal border, after nearly a decade in hiding. In May 2025, Sherpa was also sentenced to five years in jail with a monetary penalty. This is India’s first case where an entire network of poachers, couriers, middlemen, and traffickers, totalling 28 individuals, has been successfully convicted in a single wildlife crime case.

 

The STSF used brain mapping, narco-analysis, cyber tracking, and international intelligence sharing to gather irrefutable evidence. The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and multiple national and international agencies assisted in the investigation, which has been hailed as a model by Interpol, with the STSF receiving formal appreciation on four separate occasions.