STOP TRADING OF INSECTS IN INDIA - OIPA

2008-07-10T21:37:00.000-07:00

-http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/Czech-scientists-finally-released/340746/

Kolkata, July 25 The Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM), Darjeeling, granted bail to Czech scientists Petr Svacha and Emil Kucera on Friday morning. After spending more than a month in jail, the duo was finally released late in the evening.

ACJM U K Nandi granted the bail on a condition that the scientists will not be allowed to leave Darjeeling until further orders. They also need to meet investigating officers twice a week to complete the probe being conducted by the district police. Their passports, seized by the forest department earlier, will not be handed over to them.

Svacha and Kuchera were arrested by the police on June 22 for violating the Wildlife Protection Act, following complaints lodged by the forest department. Since then, they were lodged in the Darjeeling jail.

Earlier, the ACJM court had rejected their bail petition.

According to a source in the Darjeeling jail, a Czech embassy official from Delhi spoke to the scientists over the phone after their release. The jail authorities also provided them with a vehicle to reach Darjeeling town. “They left the jail at 6.30 pm,” said a source.

Advocate Taurang Pandit, counsel of the scientists, had moved the bail petition on July 23.

A spokesman of the Czech embassy in Calcutta said the scientists would give their full cooperation to investigating officers of the case. “We will move a petition before the court to relax the conditions of the bail,” he said.

Czech duo may be part of insect smuggling racket

KOLKATA: The arrest in Darjeeling of two Czech nationals — who introduced themselves as a scientist and a forester and collected several rare species of butterflies and insects without permission from the forest department — has literally opened a can of worms.

Forest officials fear that they trespassed into Singalila National Park with a motive. And they might be part of a global network that trades in endangered varieties of butterflies and insects that fetch millions of dollars in the international market.

According to the forest department, one of the arrested, Peter Svacha, even has a website on which he has posted offers to sell some rare butterflies. Svacha and his companion Emil Kucera — who claimed to be a forester — were remanded in jail custody till July 21 by the Darjeeling court on Wednesday.

Forest officials seized 60 butterflies, over a dozen rare varieties of beetles and moths from them after their arrest from a Darjeeling hotel on June 22. The catch, made at the national park in Darjeeling, is estimated to be worth Rs 10 crore in the international market. It has been sent to the Zoological Survey of India for analysis.

Investigators are proceed-ing cautiously because the accused scientist is apparently well known and finds mention on several websites.

Seshmani Gurung, defence lawyer for the duo, said: "I could not attend the hearing because of the ceasework at court. I will advise my clients to write to the political party that has called the strike in government offices and to the Bar council to open the court for proceedings."

While the butterflies are listed in Schedule I, the beetles are included in Schedule II of the Wild Life Protection Act. Neither Svacha nor Kucera had clearance or permission to collect butterflies from Singalila National Park.
"But they were carrying all the necessary equipment, which shows they had come with a purpose. It can’t be that they were not aware that permission had to be sought. The two had insect catching nets, an axe, a saw, a lamp and glue. They were even carrying preservatives. We suspect the butterflies and insects would either have been smuggled to China or to some European country from the Czech Republic," said Utpal Nag, assistant divisional forest officer of Darjeeling. "Both are well aware of the forest rules and regulations in India and had done an extensive study on Indian biodiversity. This could be the tip of an iceberg."

Darjeeling and the Dooars are considered among the richest in the world in terms of biodiversity. The area is home to 120 rare species of butterflies that have a huge market in at least 16 countries including China, US and Tibet. Last year, a German national was caught collecting insects from Darjeeling.

"Bio-piracy is rampant in the eastern Himalayas. Just 3-4 cases have come to light in the last 10 years while the rest went unnoticed. Usually foreigners operate in the area posing as scientists. This is a cause for concern," said Deepankar Ghosh, senior coordinator of WWF India.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
Cities/Kolkata_/Czech_duo_may_be_part_of_insect_smuggling_racket/articleshow/3216655.cms

2008-07-10T21:19:00.000-07:00

SOS for the Protection of India`s Wildlife From Being Robbed - Naresh Kadyan

Web site :-
http://www.who.is/whois-com/ip-address/coleoptera-kucera.com/

2008-07-10T20:30:00.001-07:00

Insect Heist: Arrested Czech Traded on Web - Naresh Kadyan OIPA

As international and domestic pressure mounts on the West Bengal forest department to release the Czech duo arrested for illegally collecting a large number of endangered insects from Singalila National Park in Darjeeling district, Hindustan Times has tracked one of them, as a self-proclaimed trader in insects.

Petr Svacha (51) and Emil Kucera (53) were caught on June 22 with over 200 beetles, butterflies and other insects and were remanded to judicial custody. On July 5, around 600 international and Indian researchers petitioned the Prime Minister, the Chief Justice of India and the West Bengal Chief Minister to release Svacha, an entomologist of repute, and his friend.

While Svacha is indeed a senior scientist at the institute of entomology at the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, his companion Kucera has a history of wildlife trading. His web site — coleoptera-kucera.com — was shut down soon after he and Svacha were arrested. But Hindustan Times has web pages from the site where Kucera offered to sell beetles (coleoptera) by post.

Under Emil Kucera’s name, Czech address and phone number (+420-381-522776), the website claimed: “I’m offer (sic) insects (Coleoptera) from palearct region (mainly from China). Contact e-mail coleoptera.kucera@quick.cz. Insects I can send by post.”

Meanwhile, the petition claims the Czech duo moved unknowingly inside protected areas, their collection was meant for research and did not include endangered samples or anything of commercial value. But the haul included endangered butterflies and other valuable specimens. Tiger beetles, for example, are used for medicines in the Far East and South America and can fetch as much as $200 a piece.

“It is not only ethical but also a pre-requisite for a scientist to approach the authorities for permission before proceeding for any collection. If Svacha and Kucera are such renowned researchers, it is surprising that they did not know or chose to ignore the basic guidelines,” said Sumita Ghatak, Divisional Forest Officer, Wildlife Division I, Darjeeling.

Svacha and Kucera have been charged under Sections 27 — entry without permission to protected areas — and Section 29 — removal of wildlife without permission from the chief wildlife warden — of the Wildlife Protection Act (1972).

On Wednesday, a special hearing at Darjeeling rejected the bail petition moved by the duo and slated the next hearing for July 21.

If the court finds the accused guilty, the penalty could be a minimum imprisonment of three years and a fine.

Mazoomdaar is an independent journalist

http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=&id=f0dcc143-1784-4515-a48a-cd40c9d1b151&MatchID1=4725&TeamID1=2&TeamID2=3&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1191&PrimaryID=4725&Headline=Insect+heist%3a+Arrested+Czech+traded+on+web&strParent=strParentID

2008-07-10T20:26:00.000-07:00

Requesting the Release of Dr. Petr - Sukanya Kadyan

LINKS TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THIS ISSUE:-
http://www.google.co.in/search?hl=en&q=INSECT+HEIST%3A+ARRESTED+CZECH+TRADED+ON+WEB&btnG=Google+Search&meta=&aq=f