Bhubaneswar: The ministry of forest, environment and climate change on Wednesday constituted a 4-member inquiry team from wildlife crime control bureau (WCCB) to investigate the international organized crime linkage in the mysterious appearance of orangutan in Balasore district on Tuesday morning. The WCCB team will be led by Patil Suyog Subhashrao while the other three members in the team are Kishor Kumar Sharma, Koushik Mondal and Molay Das. “The team will look into the modus operandi, criminal network and linkages and any other known case of exotic species smuggling and provide assistance to the enforcement agencies,” the order read. Odisha chief wildlife warden Prem Kumar Jha also wrote to DGP (in-charge) Vinaytosh Mishra to assist the forest department in examining the orangutan case, particularly the source and the animal’s ownership. The wildlife wing deputes a senior officer to liason between forest and police dept, officials said.
