Highly powerful people including VVIPs such as Buddhist monks, politicians, judges, former parliamentarians and several members of the former first family who illegally kept elephants in their possession without proper documentation are yet to be indicted despite, the case files from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has been forwarded to the Attorney General’s (AG) department for action.
It is reliably learnt that the failure of the AG’s department in issuing instructions had resulted in the delay of arrests of illegal owners although the CID said investigations have been completed and all the documents and case files on Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thero, Namal Rajapaksa MP and 21 others were forwarded to the AG’s department.
Meanwhile, Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thero had reported sick and had admitted himself to a private hospital without informing the CID and the officers went to the hospital in Colombo to record the statement from him regarding his possession of an elephant without a valid permit. The Thera had been asked to report to the CID, but the Thera was seen delivering Buddhist sermons in Kelaniya and several other places while he was supposed to be warded in the hospital.
The Police Media Spokesperson ASP Ruwan Gunasekera said the Thero had been asked to give a statement to the CID for keeping an elephant and its calf without a permit at the Alan Mathiniyaramaya Temple in Polhengoda. But however, the CID was able to record statements from the thera with regards to the illegally kept baby elephant.
AG delays
He also said that the reason as to why the AG is delaying to issue instructions is not known and the police had to wait till instructions are issued to proceed further.
The Director General of DWC Chandrasiri Bandara speaking to The Sunday Leader said that investigations against suspects were carried out by the relevant authorities and the Police with out any hinderance.
“Therefore, once AG’s instructions are received the Police will arrest the suspects and the elephants would be taken under the custody of DWC from their illegal owners.”
When the Wildlife Department officers raided the Alan Mathiniyaramaya Temple on January 28, 2015 and found the elephants in the temple with no proper documents, the illegally kept elephants were taken under their custody. The Deputy Minister of Wildlife Wasantha Senanayake, too had participated in the raid. The Thera had not been able to produce any documents that gave him permission to keep the elephants.
However, Ven. Dhammaloka Thero said that he had nothing to do with the illegal possession of the mother elephant and the calf but this was due to mudslinging by some religious extremists.
Large number of elephants die in shootings, train accidents and by falling into traps made by hunters and no one cares about them but question the temple and the Theros who only use the elephants for ‘Peraheras’ and for veneration purposes”.
Meanwhile, there are over 350 elephants registered under the tamed elephant category in which nearly 200 tamed elephants are not being used for processions. Theros, who had in their possession baby elephants illegally, claim they have a shortage of tamed elephants that could be used in ‘Peraheras’ hence they had to obtain elephants from the wild. Nevertheless, the claim of theirs is a mere admission of their illegal ownership. The Sunday Leader contacted the former Deputy Minister for Wildlife Conservation Wasantha Senanayake to question as to how the Ministry will act to prevent such illegal elephant ownership in the country by individuals, monks or politicians. Responding to the questions he said that he had suggested many ideas to prevent such incidents in future but he was not sure whether they will be implemented or not.
“The method of differentiating between the domestic and wild elephants by an electronic chip should be implemented. Records for all the elephants that were brought to the department from wild or from captivity should be kept as to arrest illegal activities against the elephants. The chip will include all the necessity details of the elephants including information on its DNA.
There have been some instances where dead elephants were replaced illegally from the wild with no change in the documents. Hence if the ministry will implement the chip technology which will have all the essential information on elephants, the department could easily track down the illegal elephants.” However, only baby elephants from wild could be captured to replace dead elephants hence, the colour, size and the height will clearly reveal the nature of the elephant when there is a replacement and the ministry cannot continuously test the DNA in order to track down a crime. Therefore the ministry has to arrive at a sustainable solution to arrest these illegal elephant owners and curb illegal replacement, he claimed.
Moreover, the details of all elephants owned by individuals should be registered under the ministry to keep a track on the elephants which unfortunately has never been carried out according to the regulations of the ministry and the department. Therefore, registering the details of the elephants should be in future strictly implemented to prevent the occurrences of any such illegal activities.
There are some individuals who own the elephants in violation for the regulations of the DWC hence, they should also be looked into by the ministry he claimed adding that he is unaware of how the present minister would act against the crime and all responsibility lies with the relevant government bodies which should act effectively.
http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2016/01/31/jumbo-criminals-yet-to-be-brought-to-justice/