Police have finally managed to arrest four dreaded poachers from the Tamana Reserve Forest in Ganjam district. Two deer skulls with horns and a huge cache of arms and ammunition were seized from their possession.

The accused were identified as Purna Gouda alias Chian of Singabadi village, Sankar Pradhan of Medinipur village, Bhalia Mallick alias Abhi, and Brundaban Mallick of Kanheiput village. They are reportedly members of most-wanted Kuna Behera’s gang, police sources said on Saturday.

Kuna Behera, who runs a poaching syndicate that has presence in many forests across the State, is now in jail.

Acting on a tipoff about the movement of one of the accused in the Tamana Reserve Forest, a police team led by a Sub-Divisional Police Office conducted the raid on Thursday. Seeing the police, the accused persons tried to escape into the forest but were nabbed.

Two country-made muzzle loading single barrel guns, 125 live cartridges (65 MM), 200 empty cartridges, lead splinter balls weighing 10 Kg, small-sized lead splinter balls weighing 250 grams, gunpowder weighing 200 grams, two lead bar used in making the splinter balls, one head torch light used for hunting, equipment used for assembling the cartridges and two deer skulls with horns were seized from the accused.

Police have registered a case and launched a probe to find out the involvement of other persons. The police will return the seized horns to the Forest Department for the registration of a case under the Wildlife Protection Act and further investigation at their end.