The Rachakonda police in Hyderabad on Monday busted an inter-state poaching racket with the arrest of four people who were attempting to smuggle a leopard skin.
The accused were identified as 23-year-old Basudev, 19-year-old Jagannath and 26-year-old Bali Pangi, all of whom hailed from Odisha, besides Nagothi Banu, aged 24, from Visakhapatnam district in Andhra Pradesh.
Police said that the accused would lay wire traps to mostly target leopards and tigers, as the skin of those animals was in demand. They were also well aware of the movements of these wild animals in the forests bordering Telangana, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Andhra, investigation officials said.
In the case of the specific skin that was seized, police added that it was a male leopard which was estimated to be around two years old. The animal was killed around three months ago with wire traps and the accused were looking to sell it for a rate between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh, according to the police.
The accused were caught when they hid the skin in the car’s dickey and reached Mayur hotel at LB Nagar in Hyderabad earlier this week, where they waited to meet a customer and sell it. However, based on a tip-off, the police reached the spot and arrested the accused.
“The accused persons are professional poachers and they are about 8 to 10 members who regularly indulge in tiger poaching,” a press note from the police stated.
Investigation officials said that after it was trapped and killed, the animal’s skin would be taken out carefully along with the nails, to be sold in the black market.
“After killing the animals, they inform their source to dispose the skin at a particular rate. They informed us that there is no fixed rate for the skin and it all depends on the customer’s demand. They get Rs 5 lakh for leopard skin and sometimes more. For tiger skin, they get around Rs 20 lakh to Rs 25 lakh,” the police said.