ROURKELA: Authorities of Bonai forest division arrested six suspected poachers from Jarda range in Gurundia block of Sundargarh district on Thursday morning.
Five country-made rifles, multiple bows and arrows, snares, gunpowder, pellets, two monkey hides, one barking deer skull, bunches of porcupine spines, Indian peafowl feathers and two mobile phones were seized from their possession.
Bonai divisional forest officer (DFO) Lalit Patra said the poachers were under surveillance for the past three months. Acting on intelligence reports, a team successfully intercepted them inside Jarda forest when they were planning large-scale operation with several hunting equipment.
Patra said the search team comprising around 35 personnel included assistant conservators of forests JP Bishoyi, Jada range officer Kailash Kishan and his Tamra counterpart Debasish Nayak.
The accused are Raj Pradhan (35), Ramani Ranjan Patra (28), Narayan Hasti (41) and Biswanath Hasti (55) of Gurundia block besides Bhima Kisan (27) and Sarat Naik (50) of Sambalpur district.
The DFO said they are being interrogated to establish their past poaching activities, modus operandi and possible links to broader networks in wildlife poaching.