Forest Department officials seized a leopard skin on Tuesday and arrested two wildlife smugglers from Balangir and Boudh districts in this connection.
The arrested were identified as Mukesh Manahira of Balangir and Dibyashankar Bagarti of Boudh.
Following a tipoff, a team of Balangir Forest Division led by DFO Nitish Kumar raided Kotagaon village under Tushura police station in the district and arrested Mukesh. During interrogation, he revealed the whereabouts of his associate in the neighbouring Boudh district.
The officials then raided Phatamunda village under Boudh’s Kantamal Forest Range and arrested the second accused, Dibyashankar . They recovered a leopard hide from a haystack near his home.
Forest officials said that the seized leopard hide is an old one and they are conducting a probe to ascertain the involvement of other smugglers in the case.
Both the accused were forwarded to the Balangir SDJM Court under relevant sections of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.