NewzVille Desk
The Madhya Pradesh State Tiger Strike Force, in a coordinated operation with the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, has apprehended Yangchen Lachungpa, an international wildlife offender wanted under an INTERPOL Red Notice.
She was arrested on Tuesday from Lachung in North Sikkim, following sustained intelligence efforts and coordinated ground action.
The operation was carried out with full cooperation from Sikkim Police, Forest Department, Judiciary and District Administration, and also received support from SSB in Sikkim and Siliguri for secure transit arrangements, in view of heightened public sentiment.
The accused was taken to Gangtok for production before the competent court after a mandatory medical examination.
After completion of medical tests, she was produced before the court on 3rd December 2025, where her bail plea was rejected, and transit remand to Madhya Pradesh was ordered.
Further legal proceedings would now be carried out at Narmadapuram, Madhya Pradesh.
A total of 36 individuals were named in a wildlife crime case in July 2015, of which 27 were convicted by the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Narmadapuram, on 20 December 2022.
However, proceedings against the Lachungpa could not take place as she was absconding.
She was a key member of an organised trafficking network with links from poachers and middlemen to transboundary illegal wildlife trade routes spanning Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan, and operating across multiple Indian cities.
The arrest Notice was issued for Lachungpa on 2 October 2025 as a ‘fugitive wanted for prosecution’.
