Paralakhemundi: The Forest Department seized two leopard skins in two separate raids in Gajapati district and arrested six persons involved in illegal wildlife trade.Three bikes and six mobile phones used in the trade were also seized.
Acting on intelligence inputs, a special team of Devagiri Forest Division conducted a raid at Paralakhemundi New Bus Stand on Thursday and arrested Gorilla Ravi (40) of Hadubhangi village and Prafulla Ghanta (42) of Parida village. One leopard skin, one bike and two mobile phones were seized from them.
During interrogation, based on information provided by them, the team conducted another raid near Tulsinagar under Mohana forest range on Friday and arrested Jaga Mallik (36), Vijay Nanda Nayak (23), Trilochana Patra (35) and Deepak Kumar Nayak (25). Another leopard skin, two bikes and four mobile phones were seized from their possession.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, Paralakhemundi DFO S. Nagaraju said two separate cases have been registered in this regard and the accused have been forwarded to court as per law.
Further investigation is underway to ascertain whether the accused are involved in other cases, where the leopards were poached, the source of the skins, and whether any international racket is involved, the DFO said.
