The name Abdul Khader Chaudhury does not strike a chord. But he and two others are allegedly responsible for the fast-dwindling tiger population in India. Chaudhury (69), along with two other notorious wildlife traders from Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, has reportedly smuggled around 600 tiger skins outside the country, in their association spanning more than two decades. He was arrested by the Karnataka State CID Forest Cell on Sunday, from his house in Hyderabad. He was wanted in Hubli and Haliyal cases. Chaudhury's name figured when Prabhakar Keshav Gajakosh, a politician and timber contractor, earlier registered with the forest department from Hubli, was arrested for his alleged wildlife crimes last year. "He had mentioned his connections with Chaudhury, Raj Kumar, son of Sansar Chand, one of India's worst known wildlife criminals, Harprasad Lasak Chand of Birahuli village of Katni district in Madhya Pradesh, and Goti from Kalyan Nagar, Delhi. He told us that he used to visit Chaudhury to sell or buy wild life pelts from him. They know each other for the last 25 years and have been in the criminal trade for 15 years. Goti used to reportedly lay the animal traps,' said Inspector General of Police (CID Forest Cell) KSN Chikkerur. Chaudhury is one of India's oldest wildlife traders, along with Sansar Chand. Chaudhury's name also figured when the special task force, UP, arrested one Shabeer Hasan Qureshi along with his sons Siraj and Sarfaraz, from Allahabad in December last year. "The SSP, STF, Yashpal told me that Qureshi was trading skins with Gajakosh and Chaudhury. They had seized three tiger pelts, 75 kilos of tiger bones and 25 kilos of wild life trophies from Qureshi's house,' said the officer. The criminals reportedly smuggled around 600 tiger skins to other countries, charged Mr Chikkerur. Chaudhury, an iron worker and a dealer of skins of domestic animals, is a resident of Indiranagar, Mushrafabad, Hyderabad. He was produced before the judicial magistrate first court in Hubli and later sent to judicial custody, upto February 23. JUMBO DANGER It's not just tigers which are disappearing from the Indian forests. If figures are an indicator, Karnataka may soon be in the red for its elephant population. "In the last four years, we have lost 260 elephants; from 2004 to 2007 due to various causes,' said IGP, Forest CID Cell, KSN Chikkerur. "In 2004, 66 elephants died; in 2005, we lost 55 pachyderms, in 2006, 52 died and in