The Special Task Force of Odisha police busted a wildlife smuggling racket with the kingpin of the gang and seizure wildlife trophies including elephant tusk.
Acting on a tip-off, the STF officials conducted a raid in Telibani village under Deopgarh police station jurisdiction of Deogarh district arrested the wildlife criminal identified as Madan Kumar Jayapura
During the search, one leopard skin, an elephant tusk and pangolin Scales (1 kg 770 gm), and other incriminating articles were recovered from his possession,
“The accused person could not produce any authority in support of the possession of the Wildlife trophies, for which he was arrested and was handed over to Deogarh Forest Officials for legal action at their end. The wildlife trophies will be sent to the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun for chemical examination. Further Investigation of the matter is underway”, said Deputy Inspector General of Police, STF, Mr. Jai Narayan Pankaj.
In the past two years, the STF has confiscated as many as 25 leopard skins, 13 elephant tasks, 7 deer skins, 9 live pangolins, and more than 16 kg pangolin scales in a drive against wildlife crimes and arrested as many as 55 wildlife criminals, the senior STF official added.