Four arrested by STF for smuggling leopard hide in Odisha
BHUBANESWAR: The Special Task Force (STF) of Crime Branch on Friday arrested four persons in connection with the smuggling of a leopard hide at Barkote in Deogarh district. Earlier, three persons were arrested while they were attempting to sell the leopard hide.The four accused are Kaliacharan Das (56), Bhagirathi Naik (40), Pitambar Khatei (40) and Netrananda Kissan (22). While Das, Naik and Khatei are natives of Keonjhar districts, Kissan is a resident of Sundargarh district.
According to STF officers, Das had provided the leopard hide to Sachikanta Nayak of Sundargarh district, Ramanisen Behera and Jagnadutta Behera of Deogarh district, who were nabbed from Barkote. While Naik and Khatei had procured the leopard skin, Kissan mediated between the miscreants to sell the big cat’s hide.
“A case was registered and those arrested will be produced before a court in Deogarh on Saturday,” an STF officer said.Though the agency has managed to arrest the middle-men of such crimes they are yet to nab the poachers behind the killings of leopards. “The investigation of past cases has revealed that the poachers are natives of remote areas for which we are facing difficulty in identifying them,” a STF officer said.