Sharphooters hired to kill rhinos Naresh Mitra, TNN | Apr 18, 2013, 12.42 AM IST

GUWAHATI: Yetoho Zimo (26) is a sharpshooter who seldom misses his target. A resident of Dimapur, he has earned the trust of poachers over the years by proving his mettle in killing rhinos - two so far - with near-perfect precision. Whenever there is a demand for rhino horns, Zimo invariably gets the first call. 

This week, Zimo was hired for Rs 2 lakh by a poachers' gang in Assam's Darrang district to kill a rhino at Rajiv Gandhi Orang National Park. However, Zimo and his accomplices were unsuccessful this time and landed in police net as the Mangaldoi Wildlife Division, under which the park falls, already came to know about their plan. 

In a joint operation by forest department and police, Zimo and his accomplices, Hanif Ali and Giasuddin Ahmed, were arrested from a house at Sialmari in Darrang on Monday. Hanif, who works as a labourer in Dimapur, is the main linkman between sharpshooters and local poachers. 

"We came to know about Zimo's presence and other poachers through our own intelligence network. We took the help of police and raided the house at Sialmari in Darrang where Zimo had taken shelter. His accomplices Giasuddin Ahmed and Hanif Ali were also arrested," said Mangaldoi DFO Sushil Kumar Daila. 

Daila added that Zimo was involved in killing a rhino at the park last year and the .303 is the most widely used weapon used by the sharpshooter. "Zimo was also involved in killing a rhino in Kaziranga last year. Earlier, he made three attempts to kill rhino in Orang, but could not succeed because of sharp vigil by forest guards. This time, they had planned meticulously but couldn't succeed because we had prior information about their plan. One of the arrestees, Hanif Ali, is the person who brought Zimo to kill rhinos in Orang," added Daila. 

Zimo had taken shelter in Joynal Abedin's house at Sialmari. As Joynal was not present, forest officials and police arrested his son Giassuddin. "We seized nine rounds of .303 rifle bullets and a silencer. The person who possessed the rifle is still absconding," said Daila. Zimo, Hanif and Giasuddin were sent to judicial custody on Tuesday. 

This year, four poaching attempts were foiled by Orang park authorities and one poacher was killed by forest guards. At a time when at least 17 rhinos were killed in the state, mostly in Kaziranga, there has been no killing of a rhino in Orang so far this year. 

Dimapur, about 300 km from here, is the commercial hub of Nagaland. The place is also infamous for being the hub of illegal trade in wildlife parts. With firearms readily available in the hands of traditional hunters in Nagaland, many sharpshooters from the state are hired by poachers to kill rhinos in Assam. The horns are sold to traders in Dimapur and then smuggled out across the porous India-Myanmar international border through Moreh in Manipur. 

Forest officials said Zimo had confessed that a kg of rhino horn fetches Rs 30 to 35 lakh in Dimapur. The price increases manifold till it reaches China, Vietnam and other Southeast Asian markets where it is used in traditional medicines.