A man was arrested with an endangered scaly-skinned pangolin on the borders of Chhattisgarh and Odisha by a joint team of the Conservation Care Society Wildlife Trust (CCSWT) and Chhattisgarh Forest Department.
The pangolin was seized from Damru Bhatra, a press release from the Forest Department said on Monday.
Meetu Gupta from CCSWT got a tip off that a wildlife smuggler had kept a pangolin in a bordering village of Odisha Sarsopadar and was trying to sell it, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) Arun Pandey said in the press release.
Meetu Gupta’s team contacted the wildlife trafficker in the guise of a customer and brokered a deal for Rs 13 lakh, the APCCF said.
A team from the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (Jagdalpur) involved in the plan persuaded the accused to take them to the place where he had kept the pangolin.
The accused Damru was accompanied by another man, Paklu. The two started to move with the forest team towards the village but somehow sensed something fishy in the deal and tried to escape.
Paklu managed to flee but Damru was arrested. The pangolin was recovered from Damur, the APCCF said.
Damru has confessed his crime and an offence was registered against him under the Wildlife Conservation Act, it added.
