India, Sept. 12 -- Forest officials have intensified patrolling inside the Rajaji Tiger Reserve after five suspected poachers were caught late on Wednesday night, while attempting to set traps for wild animals in the restricted Chillawali range. According to officials, the park's patrolling team spotted the group near a farmhouse and recovered equipment allegedly meant for poaching. "All five were arrested and confessed to planning to kill wild animals inside the reserve. Vigil has been stepped up across the park to prevent such illegal acts that pose a threat to wildlife," said forest range officer Sheetal Singh. In a related development, forest officials have launched a search operation for Nitin Kumar, a resident of Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, accused of running an illegal snake venom centre in Khanjarpur village of Roorkee block without permission. During a raid on Tuesday evening, the forest department had recovered 70 cobras and 16 Russell's vipers from the premises. Officials said the snakes were found in poor condition, and venom stocks were missing, raising suspicions of illegal trade. "Two teams have been deployed to track down the accused, and help from the district police has been sought," said divisional forest officer Swapnil Anirudh. The centre had initially been granted a one-year permit in December 2022 to extract venom for use in life-saving medicines. The licence expired in December 2023, but operations continued without approval, said Anirudh. A case has been registered against Kumar under relevant provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, he added....