ROURKELA: A special team of the Bonai forest division arrested five wildlife poachers from Kuliposh range early in the morning on Friday.
Seven country-made rifles, traditional hunting weapons and wildlife trophies were recovered from the accused - Brundaban Naik (23), Dasu Naik (26), Jethu Naik (48), Sukanta Naik (23) and Dhaneswar Munda (43).
Bonai divisional forest officer (DFO) Lalit Patra said the arrested persons were also involved in manufacturing country-made firearms for wildlife hunting. They were under surveillance for some time. Basing on specific intelligence, a special team conducted raids in Kuliposh forest range and nabbed the poachers.
The DFO said a detailed investigation would be carried out to ascertain if these persons were part of any broader wildlife poaching network.
Apart from the firearms, bows and arrows, gun powder, wildlife trophies of Indian crested porcupine, meat and skin hair of barking deer, hide of monitor lizard and hair of wild boar were seized from the five accused.