BHUBANESWAR: The Special Task Force (STF) of Crime Branch arrested three persons and seized leopard hide from them at Barkote in Deogarh district on June 21.
The accused are Sachikanta Nayak of Sundargarh district, Ramanisen Behera and Jagnadutta Behera of Deogarh district.
While one of the accused is the son of a retired jailer, another accused is the son of a serving Prisons department official.
Superintendent of Police of Special Task Force Rahul PR said acting on a tip-off three persons were intercepted at Barkote on June 20 and leopard hide was recovered from them.
Initial investigation indicated that the accused are middle-men and they procured the hide from poachers. The trio were looking for some buyers to sell the leopard hide when they were nabbed, the SP said.
“The accused do not have any foreign links but investigation is on from all angles,” said an STF officer.
Wounds were spotted on the hide and after a scientific examination, it can be ascertained whether those are of gunshot injuries or not.
This year, STF has so far seized five leopard skins from different areas of the State, STF officer said.
The agency had arrested seven persons in March from Kuchinda in Sambalpur district and seized four leopard hides from their possession.
Leopard skin is mostly used for decorative purposes and making vanity products. The hide of the big cats are mainly sold in metro cities of the country, sources said.
Though the agency has managed to arrest the middle-men of such crimes but they are yet to arrest the poachers behind the killings of the leopards.
“The investigation of past cases have revealed that the poachers are most likely natives of remote areas of the State for which the agency is facing difficulty in identifying them,” an STF officer said.
Meanwhile, a case has been registered and the three accused were produced before a court in Deogarh on June 21.