GUWAHATI: An elephant named after the late Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden that killed five Indian villagers has been caught after a massive operation to hunt down the creature, officials said Monday. Wildlife officers tracked the pachyderm — dubbed “Laden” by the locals it menaced in northeastern Assam state — through a forest for several days using drones and domesticated elephants.
“We started the final leg of the operation today... Two darts were fired by experts which had tranquilised the male elephant,” a senior forestry official told AFP. “Now the work is on to shift the elephant to a forest where there is no human habitation nearby. The animal killed five people, including three women, during a 24-hour rampage through Goalpara district October. Officials said they would take the elephant´s welfare into account as well as the safety of people living nearby in deciding where it would be relocated.