West Bengal police arrests four persons with paint brush made with mongoose hair

West Bengal Police has arrested four people and seized 32, 985 paint brushes made out of mongoose hair worth Rs 65 lakh from Burrabazar area of Kolkata on Wednesday.

Mongoose is protected under the wildlife protection act.

Joint team of Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and forest department working on a tip of raided Burrabazar.

A senior official of forest department said, “Raids are being made to nab people engaged in the trade. We have arrested four people so far in connection to the mongoose brush.”

The four people arrested by the police have been identified as Monoj Gaur, Ranjit Kumar, Bajul Halder and Ganga Karwar.

Forest official further informed the media that hair of mostly Indian grey mongoose, protected under Schedule II of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, are used in making the brushes.

He also added that people in the illegal trade also kill ruddy mongoose, small Indian Mongoose and stripe necked mongoose to make paint brushes.

Another forest department official told the media that hair of at least 50 mongoose are required to make the paint brush.