The police special task force arrested three people with one leopard pelt and one leopard skull and bones weighing five kgs on the Devprayag-Srinagar national highway on Thursday.According to the police, they had been receiving information about poaching of wildlife especially leopards in the jungles of Maniknath forest range. On the instructions of the STF SSP, STF inspector Yogesh Kumar and his team had been working on this information.
On Thursday, working with Devprayag police the STF team nabbed three men travelling in a car on the Devprayag-Srinagar national highwah. The trio has been identified as Kuldeep Singh Rawat, Diwan Singh Rawat and Birendra Datt Semwal- all residents of Hindolakhal area in Tehri district. The police seized one leopard pelt, a leopard skull and bones from them. The cost of this wildlife contraband in the international market is estimated to be about Rs6.50 lakh.
Personnel of the STF, district police and Forest Department are questioning the arrested men to gain information about wildlife poaching the network of smuggling wildlife contraband. legal action will be initiated against other members of this network based on the information gained from the trio.