Wildlife smuggling racket busted, 4 held

Lakhimpur Kheri, UP, Oct 28 (UNI) Police today claimed to have busted a wildlife smuggling syndicate with the arrest of four smugglers in Melani area of this district.

They said acting on a tip-off, a forest department team in a joint operation with local police raided a house in Sansarpur village last evening.

The smugglers, identified as Ram Deen, Ram Sagar and Ashok Kumar, were arrested on the spot, they said, adding tiger skin and bones were recovered from them.

While other accomplices had managed to escape, the police said Roopram--the aide of the smugglers, was held today .

On interrogation, the arrested confessed they had hunted the animal in Melani area, the police said.

Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh Forest Minister Fateh Bahadur Singh ordered a high-level probe into the incident.

UNI