By Rahul Bedi in New Delhi
(Filed: 29/06/2005)
Women who strip off their clothes are the latest weapon deployed by the "timber mafia" in the jungles of eastern India to help them illegally cut down trees.
The women surround male guards and disrobe as the men try to protect the forests, embarrassing them into fleeing.
"It is proving tough to deal with these women," said B K Singh, a forest official from Chakulia in the region of Jharkhand. "It has become a regular practice for them to strip and we end up releasing the culprits to avoid trouble."
Another senior official said forest guards caught three men carrying away illegal timber in Chakulia but soon found themselves encircled by a mob of around 50 women demanding their release.
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