The Delhi Police Crime Branch arrested three members of the inter-State leopard skin traders on the alleged charges of procuring and selling hides of animals, including that of endangered species of Snow leopard.
Also, police recovered two processed hides of leopards costing Rs10 lakhs in international market. The accused were identified as Ram Singh (28), Tej Singh (23) and Jigmed (20) — all hailing from Himachal Pradesh.
Teams of Delhi Police officials in a joint operation with the team of Wild life Crime Control Bureau, in two different raids arrested the trio on May 3. While two were arrested from Idgah Road and third was arrested from North Delhi’s Kashmiri Gate area.
“We recovered one processed hide of 8 feet 10 inches of an adult leopard and 48 inches’ Snow leopard’s hide,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Ravindra Yadav adding that the trio procured the hides of the rare predator animals from high altitudes of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh. An official of Wildlife Crime Control Bureau said, “Snow leopard is an endangered species and is on the verge of extinction. They are very rare to be recovered as earlier such recovery was reported in Delhi in 1993 only.”
According to police officials, the arrest took place after receiving a tip-off about the arrival of the accused at Idgah Road for illegal trade of the leopards’ hides.
“Ram has been involved in illegal trade of animal hides for the last 5-6 years and was earlier arrested by Himachal Pradesh police in 2013,” added Joint CP stating that Tej and Jigmed got involved in the same in 2015.
A case under appropriate sections of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 was registered by the Delhi Police Crime Branch.