Leopard skin seized;Four poachers arrested

Baripada, Jun 7 (UNI) Forest officials today seized two leopard skins and arrested four poachers, all under Dukura Range of Baripada territorial forest division The poachers had killed two leopards from the Simlipal Tiger Reserve,(STR) and were looking for a customer to dispose the skin when they were nabbed, Conservator of Forests, Baripada Circle-cum- STR Field Director R Nagaraja Reddy said.

All the four poachers had been identified as Pradhan Singh of Routraipur, Baidyanath Singh of Madhapur, Hasa Singh of Chandanchaturi and Sudarshan Behera of Jadunathpur.

Acting on a tip-off, a Range Officer in the guise of a purchaser approached the poachers and asked them to come with the skins at an undisclosed isolated place.

As soon as the poachers came with the skin, they were put under arrest and the skins were seized from their possession, the STR Field Director said.

The length of one of the skins was six feet six inches, while the other skin measured six feet, sources said.

UNI XC-DP SJC/src1912