Jodhpur : The forest department team has caught two smugglers with leopard heads in the district. The team has recovered leopard heads, skins and various items made of ivory from the two smugglers. The incident took place in Jodhpur’s Ummed Udyan. The forest department team, with the help of the police, caught both the smugglers at around 4 pm on Friday evening. It is being told that the team was following them for three days and finally contacted them posing as buyers. Right now these smugglers are in police custody and their names have not been disclosed. Sambhar horns have also been recovered from these smugglers. Their price is said to be around 70 lakh rupees.
The team was following the smugglers for 3 days
Jodhpur Forest Division DFO Mohit Gupta said that the team was getting information about smuggling of wildlife related items for a long time. The team was following them for 3 days. The team contacted the smugglers by posing as customers. After this, they were called near Jodhpur’s Ummed Udyan on Friday. During this time the police team was also present.
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As soon as the two smugglers arrived with these goods, the team caught them. When the goods they had were searched, the team was shocked. A large quantity of items made from the skin, teeth and other parts of wild animals were recovered from them. The DFO informed that they are in custody right now and interrogation is being done about their network. Leopard’s head and items made of ivory were recovered. Leopard’s head, sambhar skin, various accessories made of ivory were recovered from the accused. Besides this, ivory bracelets, jewelry box, pen stand, pickaxe, box for filling the parting of hair etc. were recovered from the accused.
Punishment can be from 3 to 7 years
Under the Wildlife Act, selling items made from wildlife parts is a crime. The punishment for this can be 3 to 7 years. The Forest Department suspects that this entire case is linked to international smugglers. Only after interrogation will it be known for how long the accused were involved in smuggling.
