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Karnataka tribals held in Ivory Coast for illegally selling herbal oil released
The nine people belong to the Hakki Pikki tribe, whose members often tour African countries selling herbal oil used for head and body massage.
Pakshirajapura is a hamlet with about 600 houses, almost all inhabited by the Hakki Pikki people. (Express Photo by Kiran Parashar)
Nine people from a semi-nomadic tribal community in Karnataka who were arrested in Ivory Coast last month for allegedly selling herbal oil illegally have been released, one of them said.
The nine people belong to the Hakki Pikki tribe, whose members often tour African countries selling herbal oil used for head and body massage.
Speaking to indianexpress.com on the phone, Nirveni, 36, one of the nine tribals, said they were released on August 12 but are not planning to return to India immediately because they have not done good business yet.
“Our plan was to promote the herbal oil through social media in Ivory Coast and then sell products. We were arrested. Now, we cannot bring all the raw materials back to India. If we get permission from the authorities, we are going to stay here for a month or so and return to India. If they don’t permit, we will return,” said Nirveni from Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
The other members of the group are Prabhudev, Shahajan, Shanthi, Girish, Lakshmi, Pappu P, Pappa, and Simran—all residents of Paksirajapura in Hunsur taluk of Mysuru district, like Nirveni.
They were arrested in Abengourou, 200 km from Abidjan, on July 29, about six months after reaching Africa, according to Nirveni.
Semi-nomadic tribe of bird catchers and hunters
The Hakki Pikki (‘Hakki’ in Kannada translates as ‘bird’ and ‘Pikki’ as ‘catchers’) are a semi-nomadic tribe of traditional bird catchers and hunters. According to the 2011 Census, there are 11,892 Hakki Pikki people in Karnataka. Members of the tribe are mostly concentrated in Davangere, Mysuru, Kolar, Hassan, and Shivmogga districts, but also live in Bengaluru’s slums and unauthorised colonies. They speak a tribal language called Vaghri, Kannada, and Hindi.
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In the 1950s, after wildlife protection laws banned hunting, the Hakki Pikki people, displaced from forests, gradually began tapping their traditional knowledge of plants. Experts say that as a semi-nomadic tribe, the Hakki Pikki people are natural travellers and have for decades been travelling to other nations—earlier to sell handicrafts and now to produce and market traditional herbal oils and other plant-based medicines.
Despite civil wars and tough situations, the Hakki Pikki community has continued to travel to African countries as they think they can make 200 per cent profit on their investment.
In April 2023, 31 tribals from Karnataka were stuck in violence-hit Sudan. Later, they were rescued with the intervention of the Ministry of External Affairs.
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
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