Kolkata: The North 24-Parganas Forest division sniffed an interstate racket involved in illegal wildlife trade with the seizure of one adult leopard skin and apprehension of three persons from Madhyamgram in North 24-Parganas.
“Based on an intelligence report from sources, we conducted a raid in Madhyamgram near Barasat on Sunday night and arrested 3 persons and seized one adult leopard skin from their possession,” Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), North 24-Parganas Raju Sarkar said.
The three arrested persons are residents of Odisha and were lured into selling the skin to our sources for Rs 10 lakh.
The raid was conducted by a team comprising DFO, North 24-Parganas (N) Division, Range Officer of Barasat SF range and about 10 staff members of North 24-Parganas division under the leadership of SP Forest Protection Ajeet Singh Yadav.
The trio were produced at the CJM Court, Barasat and remanded to judicial custody.
“Investigation is in progress for locating the source of the leopard skin and to unearth the inter-state gang operating this illegal wildlife trade,” Sarkar added.