A team of Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police has arrested a man involved in poaching Namobuddha, the country’s first tiger fitted with a Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled satellite collar.

Lal Bahadur aka Raj Bahadur, a local resident of Hariharpur VDC in Surkhet district, had been on the run after killing Namobuddha in Bardiya National Park (BNP) in 2011.

Acting on a tip-off by Indian authorities, the CIB team led by DSP Pravin Pokharel arrested BK from Banbarsa on the Indian territory along the Nepal-India border on Wednesday, after a week-long careful plan. He was brought to the BNP on Thursday morning for further investigation.

“After the killing the tiger, BK had fled from Bardia along with his family and was working at the apple farm in Shimla,” said Pokharel.

Two-and-a-half-year-old Namobuddha was translocated from Chitwan National Park to Babai Valley inside the BNP on January 22, 2011. The carcass of Namobuddha was recovered from Narasoti inside the BNP on May 18. Charred pieces of the GPS device were strewn around the site, while two dismembered cow carcasses were also found nearby.

Investigations revealed that the carcasses were poisoned and the protected Royal Bengal Tiger died after consuming the poison-laced flesh.

A total of 20 poachers and traders were arrested in the first phase of operation between December 2015 and January 2016. The authorities have so far arrested 146 out of 237 fugitives convicted of poaching and trading on animal parts, according to CIB.