Red panda, leopard skins recovered from traffickers in Jalpaiguri

Baikunthapur forest officials arrested three persons in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district for allegedly smuggling animal skins.

Jalpaiguri: West Bengal's forest department personnel have recovered three animal skins and arrested three persons in Jalpaiguri district on the charge of illegally possessing the items, officials said on Wednesday.

Of the seized skins, two are of red panda while one belongs to a full-grown leopard. Acting on a tip-off that some people smuggling wildlife items reached Siliguri, personnel of the Baikunthapur forest department carried out an operation and stopped the three at a place on PWD Road in that city on Monday night.

They recovered the animal skins from a school bag the smugglers were carrying. The accused are residents of Nepal and they were trying to smuggle the items to Bhutan via Siliguri, a forest department official said. (With agency inputs)