Chandigarh: Ten shahtoosh shawls and a number of mixed shahtoosh–pashmina shawls were seized in an undercover operation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) assisted by the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) late Sunday afternoon.The owner of an up-market store, Gulati Silks and Sarees, located in the heart of Chandigarh in Sector 17 was arrested with an accomplice.

The CBI has made this recovery after a tip off from the Wildlife Trust of India about a prospective sale to a decoy customer posing as an NRI. The owner of the store Mr. Pawan Gulati and his accomplice Jagdish Kumar were intercepted enroute, opposite Hotel Mount View, Chandigarh. The accused persons were produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Chandigarh and were remanded to Judicial Custody.

They are at present being interrogated by the CBI team headed by Inspector Khaleel Sarvar to establish the source of supply of the Shahtoosh Shawls. Senior Advisor and Trustee of WTI, Ashok Kumar, who actively participated in this seizure said, “the recovery was based on information that the store owner was dealing in shahtoosh shawls.

Persistent follow up of the network of the Delhi and Chandigarh units of the CBI and WTI operatives resulted in this seizure.” While ten of the seized shawls were identified as shahtoosh shawls, the remaining shawls are currently being examined for the percentage of shahtoosh present in them, as even a trace of shahtoosh wool renders these shawls illegal for trade.

Shahtoosh shawls are made from the wool of the Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii), an endangered species accorded the highest protection in the country by the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Despite an international ban on shahtoosh trade, some illegal trade still goes on.

This work was made possible with support from Care For The Wild International, U.K., who has been supporting WTI for past one and a half years to curtail shahtoosh trade in India.

WTI and its partner in India, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) have been running a campaign against Shahtoosh that is aimed at working to root out the illegal trade which is now more rampant in some of the northern states in India.