Gariaband (Chhattisgarh):Police on Tuesday seized a leopard skin near a village in the Chhattisgarh-Odisha border area and arrested five smugglers for allegedly trying to sell it, a forest official said.
Acting on a tip-off about the possibility of leopard skin smuggling, the anti-poaching team of Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh's Gariaband district and neighbouring Odisha forest division conducted a joint operation on Monday night in Kalahandi district of Odisha, USTR deputy director Varun Jain said.
The joint team has seized 1.97 metres of leopard skin, two motorcycles, five mobile phones and a sharp-edged weapon from the five men on Amapani village road in the district, he said. The officials have expressed apprehension that a leopard of about three years old has been hunted. The five arrested accused were arrested under relevant provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act. A probe has been initiated into the case.
Earlier on November 29, a team of USTR and Maharashtra forest personnel seized a tiger skin from two persons in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district. (With Agency Inputs)
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