Passport to quick bucks

With demand for the fake wildlife products on the rise, the Vagre tribe, also known as the Hakki Pikki community, has one or other tribe member abroad most of the year

With demand for the fake wildlife products on the rise, the Vagre tribe, also known as the Hakki Pikki community, has one or other tribe member abroad most of the year

Umesh Mettur and his family are more familiar with the Burj-al-Arab and the Big Ben than the Vidhana Soudha as they jetset to Dubai, Singapore and London more often than living in Bangalore.

They are part of the Vagre tribe, also known as the Hakki Pikki community, in Gauripura, near Bidadi, that deal in fake wild life products abroad. With demand for their prducts rising, one or other tribe member is abroad most of the year.

Price catch: Umesh Mettur shows the fake elephant hairs, tiger and cheeta nails Pics/Vinod Kumar T

As a result, nearly every family has a passport though most dwellers haven't even passed Standard I.
Some households have more than one passport. Like Umesh Mettur's.

"Both my wife and I have passports. We got it done as we frequently visit foreign countries to sell products, including special massage oil," said Mettur, a senior member of the community who is named after the Mettur dam.

Mettur visited Singapore and Dubai recently.

The business

Tribal people living in dense forests have depended on their habitat for a living for decades.

But with hunting and sale of wild animals prohibited, the tribe has started making and selling fake products like tiger skins leopard skins, monitor lizard oil, tiger and leopard claws and elephant hair.

"Huge profits are assured in markets like Dubai, Singapore and London, compared to India. So, we go and sell there. Elephant hair, which people here buy for Rs 20, can be sold for more than Rs 400 in Dubai," said Veerendra, Mettur's relative who is named after Dharmastala Dharmadhikari Veerendra Hegde.

Faking it

While fake tiger skins are made by dyeing cowhide, leopard skins are made by dying fine dog skin. Fake tiger claws, leopard claws and elephant hair are made of cow horns.

They polish and size a piece of cow horn into the shape of a tiger claw and fix a goat's nerve or dog's skin to make it look real.

Massage oil made of local oils are passed off as monitor lizard oil.

"They are so well done that nobody can make out they're fake," said Mettur, with a hint of pride. "People abroad buy them paying a huge amount, thinking they're genuine."

All of them are sold with the help of middlemen.

Getting passports

Middlemen in India also arrange passports for these tribes since they do not want to risk carrying the products themselves for fear of customs officials.

Instead, they train the tribals to behave and answer queries as tourists do at the passport office. They also get them tourist visas and bear travel and boarding costs which are later deducted from the profit earned.

"Middlemen here send them to their counterparts in other countries, who market and sell them," said Vinod Kumar, a wildlife expert. "Later, the middlemen and the tribal people share the profit, which is huge."

Loopholes in the law

Fake product traders go scot free because top officials say they cannot be booked under the Wildlife (Protection) Act.

"We can't book them as they don't kill wild animals. But it has to be checked as their intention is wrong. We inform the police who can book them under the IPC," said I B Srivastava, former principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife).u00a0

Hi! I'm Sangeeth, son of Hotel
Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and Ambareesh are residents of the Hakki Pikki colony. So are Rajiv Gandhi, Coffee, Bus Depot, Shake Hand and High Court.

The colony is populated by people with lively names thanks to the centuries-old naming convention followed by the tribe. Children are named after famous people, places and things anything, in fact, that first comes to mind on the birth of a child.

While Japan is a leading politician here, other names include Apple, Lawyer, Inspector, Hotel, Cycle Rani, Delhi Rani, Tea, DFO, Vishnuvardhan, Radio, Dharmendra, Government, Dealesh and Tiger.

"We name children as a tribute to a place, person or thing we are attached to," said Sangeeth, son of Hotel. "They don't have any meaning and continue as names in official records too."

How much is a fake tiger skin?

Products	India	Abroad
Tiger skin	Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000	Rs 50,000 to Rs 100,000
Panther skin	Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000	Rs 50,000- to Rs 100,000
Tiger claw	Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000	Rs 20,000 and above
Leopard claw	Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000	Rs 15,000 and above
Elephant hair	Rs 20	Rs 400