Poacher arrested in Odisha, leopard skins seized

Odisha police on Saturday arrested a poacher and seized two leopard skins from his possession in Nayagarh district. Around 30 pieces of leopard bones were also recovered from the accused.

Bhubaneswar (Odisha): The Odisha police on Saturday claimed to have busted a wildlife smuggling racket, after a poacher was arrested and two leopard skins seized from his possession in Nayagarh district.

Acting on a tip-off, officials of the special task force conducted a raid in Ranpur area and caught the man with the leopard skins, STF Superintendent of Police, Prashant Kumar Bhoi, said.

Around 30 pieces of leopard bones were also recovered from the accused, he said.

"Efforts are on to ascertain as to how the animals were killed," Bhoi said, adding, the hides and bones will be sent to a laboratory for examination.

The accused is suspected to be mastermind of the racket as he was planning to strike a deal to sell these, he said.

He has been booked under various sections of the Wildlife Protection Act and the IPC, police said.

The STF had earlier busted an animal skin smuggling racket in Gania area in the district on June 8, and arrested two persons and had seized two leopard hides, two skins of spotted deer and other incriminating articles from their possession.

The animal skins that were seized by the STF were sent to Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun for medical examination.

PTI report