Leopard skin seized in Sambalpur, 2 arrested

Forest department staff caught the poachers by pretending as consumer

Kuchinda / Jamankira: The forest department had a major success on Wednesday. Forest workers have arrested two poachers by pretending to be a customer. One of them was seized by a leopard’s skin, two cats, a lion’s skin and a snare used for hunting.

Two men from Kutab village in Jamankira police station have tiger skins and trying to sell them. The information was received by reliable sources from the Bamra Wildlife Sanctuary DFO in Sambalpur district on Wednesday. The plan was to catch the poachers at the instruction of DFO Falguni Sarathi Mallick.

According to the plan, he contacted Kalicharan Jhankar, 50, and Basudeb Dehuri, 51, of Kutab village and final the deal at Rs 5 lakh for the purchase of tiger skins. Forest officials of Ghodabandhuni village called the poachers to collect the money. Forest officials then arrested the two hunters and brought them to the Kuchinda Forest Department Range Office. All of the above items were confiscated from them after the investigation.

The two accused were presented in the Kuchinda SDJM court. They have been remanded in custody since their bail was denied.