Women strippers terrorise Indian forest guards

NEW DELHI, Tuesday (AFP)

Indian forest guards fighting timber thieves in the eastern state of Jharkhand are being frightened off by women who start stripping and yelling for help when their male accomplices are arrested, media reports said Tuesday.

"It is proving tough to deal with these women. It has almost become a regular practice for them to strip and we end up releasing the culprits to avoid trouble," said B.K. Singh, a forest official in Jharkhand's Chakulia forest.

When forest guards arrested three men with timber, around 50 women suddenly descended on them and started taking off their clothes while crying for help, newspaper reports said.

The guards fled the spot fearing police action. "Such cases are being reported from different parts of the state," said Manish Arvind, a divisional forest officer in the state's Hazaribagh district.

But the guards are not stumped -- they are planning to recruit women guards to deal with the problem.