He had three court warrants against him, cases in three states, and had been on the run for eight years. On Monday, Tarak Nath Ghosh, the alleged kingpin of one of India's most extensive transnational reptile smuggling networks, was finally arrested in Kanpur district in Uttar Pradesh.
The arrest was the result of a coordinated operation by the Madhya Pradesh State Tiger Strike Force (MP STSF) and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), according to the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Ghosh was wanted in three cases of transnational illegal trade in turtles and gharials, all registered in Madhya Pradesh. Arrest warrants had been issued by three separate courts.
The scale of his alleged operation is staggering. Within India, his syndicate reportedly spans eight states — Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and West Bengal. Investigators reportedly suspect he had active networks beyond India's borders, in Bangladesh, Thailand, Myanmar and Singapore. The turtles and gharials are at the heart of this trade, according to the ministry.
The gharial (Gavialis gangeticus) is one of the most critically endangered crocodilian species on the planet, found almost exclusively in India's Chambal and Ganga river systems. Freshwater turtles trafficked from India, including red-crowned roofed turtles and three-striped roofed turtles, are listed under Schedule I of India's Wildlife Protection Act and Appendix I of the international CITES convention, the highest level of protection under global wildlife law. They are prized in Southeast Asian and East Asian black markets for the exotic pet trade and traditional medicine.
Ghosh's arrest comes in the midst of a larger crackdown by the MP STSF. Last month, the same enforcement agency seized 311 endangered turtles from an AC First Class railway coach, unravelling another interstate smuggling ring routed through the railways.
Ghosh will reportedly be produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate in Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh, where police and forest officials will seek custody remand to map the full extent of his network.