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A leopard skin was seized and a wildlife criminal arrested in Odisha’s Gajapati district on Wednesday, police said.
On the basis of reliable information, a team from the Crime Branch’s Special Task Force (STF) conducted a raid on the road near Mahendragarh under R. Udayagiri police station limits in Gajapati and seized the leopard skin from the possession of a man, identified as Pabitra Lima.
Lima has been handed over to the local forest officials while the seized leopard skin will be sent to Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun for chemical examination, the STF said.
So far, the STF wing of Odisha police has seized 26 leopard skins, 15 elephant tusks, 7 deer skins, 11 live pangolins, 19.5 kg of pangolin scales, 2 leopard teeth, 29 leopard claws and 46 live wild parrots, and arrested 60 wildlife criminals involved in the illegal trade.
Many leopards are killed so their skins can be used by religious groups for ceremonial garb.
Prasanta Patnaik