New Delhi, Dec 5 : In a significant victory against organized wildlife crime, the Madhya Pradesh State Tiger Strike Force (MP STSF), in close partnership with the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), has successfully captured Ms. Yangchen Lachungpa, a notorious international wildlife offender who was the subject of an INTERPOL Red Notice.
The arrest took place on December 2, 2025, in Lachung, North Sikkim. This successful operation was the culmination of intensive intelligence gathering and a well-coordinated ground effort. This apprehension is being hailed as one of the most important arrests in India involving an INTERPOL Red Notice for a wildlife criminal.
The Red Notice, designating Ms. Lachungpa as a ‘fugitive wanted for prosecution’, was secured by the WCCB, acting as the INTERPOL Liaison Office, just two months prior on October 2, 2025. The operation received comprehensive support from the Sikkim Police, Forest Department, Judiciary, and District Administration. Furthermore, the SSB in Sikkim and Siliguri ensured secure transit arrangements, recognizing the high level of public interest in the case.
Following her arrest, Ms. Lachungpa was transported to Gangtok. After a mandatory medical examination, she was presented before the competent court on December 3, 2025. The court rejected her bail application and granted transit remand to Madhya Pradesh. The subsequent legal proceedings will be carried out in Narmadapuram, Madhya Pradesh.
The Trafficking Network and Case History
The roots of the case trace back to July 13, 2015, when the Madhya Pradesh Forest Department registered a wildlife crime case in the Kamti Range of Satpura Tiger Reserve, Hoshangabad (now Narmadapuram). The investigation uncovered the poaching and illegal trade of tiger body parts and pangolin scales, with seizures including four pieces of tiger bones, 1.5 kg of pangolin scales, a tiger skin, and tiger bone oil extract.
A co-accused, Mr. Jai Tamang, arrested in October 2015, confessed to supplying contraband to Ms. Lachungpa, who had also sheltered him. This confession definitively established her critical role in the illegal wildlife trafficking chain.
A total of 36 individuals were implicated in the original case, with 27 having been convicted by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Narmadapuram, on December 20, 2022. Ms. Lachungpa, however, remained absconding. Identified as a key figure in an organized trafficking network, the Gangtok/Lachung resident’s links spanned from poachers and middlemen to transboundary illegal wildlife trade routes covering Nepal, Tibet, and Bhutan, with operations across major Indian cities.
Ms. Lachungpa was briefly detained by the MP STSF in September 2017 but violated her bail conditions and disappeared, prompting an arrest warrant on July 29, 2019. Her continued evasion led the WCCB to seek the INTERPOL Red Notice via the CBI (India’s National Central Bureau for INTERPOL), resulting in her capture.
The accused is considered a vital link, or relay point, in the transnational trafficking of wildlife contraband, especially tiger parts. Authorities anticipate that further investigation will yield crucial insights into the network’s connections, both upstream and downstream.
[Press Release PIB Govt of India , 5 Dec 2025]
