Joint Operation by Forces leads to arrest of international wildlife criminal wanted on Interpol Red Notice

New Delhi [India], December 5 (ANI): The Madhya Pradesh State Tiger Strike Force (MP STSF), in a coordinated operation with the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), has successfully apprehended Yangchen Lachungpa, an international wildlife offender wanted under an Interpol Red Notice, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change said in a press release.
She was arrested on December 2, 2025, from Lachung in North Sikkim, following sustained intelligence efforts and coordinated ground action.
This marks as one of the most significant arrests in the country in which a wildlife criminal has been arrested due to issuance of an Interpol Red Notice. The Notice for the accused was obtained recently on October 2, 2025 by WCCB, in its capacity as Interpol Liaison Office. The operation was carried out with full cooperation from Sikkim Police, Forest Department, Judiciary and District Administration, and also received support from SSB in Sikkim and Siliguri for secure transit arrangements, in view of heightened public sentiment.
Following the arrest, the accused was taken to Gangtok for production before the competent court after a mandatory medical examination. After completion of medical tests, she was produced before the court on December 3, 2025, where her bail plea was rejected, and transit remand to Madhya Pradesh was ordered. Further legal proceedings would now be carried out at Narmadapuram, Madhya Pradesh.
A wildlife crime case was registered on July 13, 2015 by the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department in Kamti Range, Satpura Tiger Reserve, Hoshangabad (now Narmadapuram). The case involved poaching and illegal trade of tiger body parts and pangolin scales, with seizures including 4 pieces of tiger bones, 1.5 kg pangolin scales, Tiger skin, Tiger bone oil extract.
Another main accused in the case, Jai Tamang, arrested in October 2015, confessed that he supplied wildlife contraband to Lachungpa, who also provided him shelter. His confession firmly established her role in the trafficking chain.
A total of 36 individuals were named in the case, of which 27 were convicted by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Narmadapuram, on December 20, 2022. However, proceedings against Lachungpa could not take place as she was absconding. A resident of Lachung/Gangtok, Sikkim, she was identified as a key member of an organised trafficking network with links from poachers and middlemen to transboundary illegal wildlife trade routes spanning Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan, and operating across multiple Indian cities including Delhi, Siliguri, Gangtok, Kolkata, Kanpur, Itarsi and Hoshangabad.
Lachungpa was briefly apprehended in September 2017 by MP STSF, but violated her bail conditions and absconded, leading to an arrest warrant on July 29, 2019. Following her continued evasion, WCCB sought an Interpol Red Notice through the CBI (India's National Central Bureau (NCB) for Interpol, handling Red Notices for all crimes, including wildlife offenses).
The notice was issued for Lachungpa on October 2, 2025 as a 'fugitive wanted for prosecution', leading to her arrest on December 2, 2025. The accused is considered a significant relay point in transnational trafficking of wildlife contraband, especially tiger parts.
Further investigation is expected to provide critical insights into both backward and forward linkages of the trafficking network. (ANI)