October 30, 2008	Thursday	Shawwal 30, 1429

KOLKOTA: A Czech entomologist sentenced by an Indian court to three years in jail for illegal insect collecting has jumped bail and fled home, police said on Wednesday.

Emil Kucera, 52, and his colleague Petr Svacha, 51, were arrested with more than 50 butterflies and several other species of insects in June at a hotel in West Bengal’s hill resort of Darjeeling.

They were charged with illegally collecting the specimens in a national park.

Svacha was let off with a fine, but Kucera was given a three year prison sentence in September. He was then released on bail pending an appeal.

“Emil Kucera has jumped the bail and fled back home,” West Bengal police inspector-general Raj Kanojia told AFP.

Kanojia said the scientist seemed to have disappeared a week ago from the hotel where he was staying in Darjeeling.

Indian press reports said the Czech Entomological Society had confirmed that Kucera was back in the Czech Republic.

It was not immediately clear how Kucera, who had surrendered his passport to the court, had left India.

Svacha is a well-known scientist from the Entomological Institute of the Czech Academy of Science, and Kucera has published a number of works on the basis of which about 100 new species of insects have been identified.

Both collectors had denied catching rare species and trespassing in a protected area. Their arrest was criticised by other members of the international scientific community.

Wildlife officials here say ‘eco-piracy’ is rampant in India, with unscrupulous collectors attracted by the lucrative returns on offer.

A single specimen of the Kaiser-i-Hind butterfly can fetch up to $1,500 on the international market, while the poisonous Indian tarantula can command a price of $1,000.—AFP