KENDRAPARA : Forest officials arrested four poachers and seized from their possession spotted deer meat at Mahisamara forest block within Bhitarkanika National Park on Sunday night.
Police identified the accused as Moti Mandal, Jitendra Barik, Sk Khusen and Tinku Bhuyan of Talachua village.
Acting on a tip-off, the team raided the house of the four poachers and arrested them with venison, assistant conservator of forest (ACF) Manas Das said.
During interrogation, they confessed to killing the spotted deer after trapping it. “We also seized two sharp weapons and three nylon ropes from them. The poachers were booked under sections 9, 27, 29 and 35 of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Raids on hideouts of other poachers who managed to flee the village after the arrest, are on,” said the ACF.
All the four accused were produced in the court at Rajnagar on Monday and remanded in judicial custody after their bail applications were rejected.
Around 450 poachers have been arrested in last two decades on the charges of killing as many as 250 spotted deer, birds and 10 crocodiles. Despite high poaching activities, conviction rate of arrested poachers continues to be nil due to slipshod attitude of the forest officials and other agencies to conduct the proceedings.