Continuing its crackdown on wildlife trafficking, the Special Task Force (STF) of the Crime Branch seized skins of two leopards and two deer and nabbed two persons from a forest in the Daspalla police station area of Nayagarh district on Sunday evening.
Acting on reliable information about illegal sale of leopard and deer hides, the STF conducted a raid at the Giripuja forest and nabbed two accused, Pratap Kumar Nayak of Sakin village and Kishore Chandra Dehury of Dedhasura village under the Dasapalla police limits. The cops also seized two leopard skins and two deer skins and other incriminating articles from their possessions.
On Monday, the police arrested the two after they failed to produce any valid documents in support of possession of the skins and produced them before the Dasapalla JMFC Court.
A case has been registered under Sections 379, 411 and 120(B) of IPC and 51 of Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. The seized skins would be handed over to the Wild Life Institute of India, Dehradun for chemical examination. Further investigation is on in this connection, said a statement issued by the STF.