Leopard Hide: 6 arrested for bid to sell leopard hide | Bhubaneswar News
Bhubaneswar: In a joint operation, personnel of city, Boudh and Nayagarh forest divisions on Sunday arrested six persons while they were allegedly attempting to sell a leopard skin in Kashipur area on the outskirts here. One person, who is believed to be a poacher, is still on the run.
Forest officials said the arrested included an Odisha Industrial Security Force (OISF) jawan, Papu Sahu, who acted as middleman to strike the deal.Five others have been identified as Bibhuti Naik, Sanat Urma, Santosh Sahu and Kabiraj Swain. Poacher Amit Mallick is on the run.
On a tip-off from Wildlife Crime Control Board, which is located at wildlife headquarters in Bhubaneswar, the joint team conducted the raid. “Two of our forest personnel acted as traders to buy the hide. Naik had hidden the item in a bag. On the pretext of seeing the quality of the hide, the team caught them,” said Ajit Kumar Satapathy, divisional forest officer, city division.
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