HYDERABAD: Four poachers, who had killed a leopard and skinned it for selling its skin and nails to smugglers in the international market, were caught by the Special Operations Team of Rachakonda Police. The poachers had killed the tiger three months ago in a reserve forest area in Erstwhile Adilabad district, said police. They were caught while waiting for a prospective customer at a lodge, said Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat. The arrested persons have been identified as Basudev Masti, Jagannath Sisa, Bali Pangi, all farmers hailing from Odisha and Nagothi Banu, a car driver from Vizag.
Based on a tip off, the special operations team from Malkajgiri, under Rachakonda commissionerate, conducted a decoy operation and contacted the poachers with an offer to buy the skin and nails. After bargaining, the deal was fixed at `10 lakh. The poachers told police they are an eight-member gang and had killed the leopard, a two-year-old male, three months ago by laying electric cable traps. After killing the animal, they skinned it skilfully, without causing the slightest damage to its skin, by drying it first. They later clipped the claws. The accused brought the skin and nails to Hyderabad and showed it to some customers but a deal could not be struck.
They told police that depending on the quality of the skin, a rate would be decided by agents. While the selling price can be around `25 lakh, the poachers are paid around `5 lakh. Police found that the accused had connections with the poachers operating in other reserve forest areas spread across the borders of Telangana, AP, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.