Rourkela: Six poachers were arrested in Odisha’s Sundargarh district Friday, a forest officer said.
Several articles, including five country-made guns and a bow and arrow, were seized from their possession, the officer said.
“It was a well-coordinated operation by our teams and we managed to crack down on the entire gang of poachers. We arrested six poachers,” said Lalit Patra, DFO of Bonai forest division.
The arrested poachers were planning a large-scale operation in the wildlife-rich Bonai forest division, he said.
The arrested persons were identified as Raj Kumar Pradhan (35), Ramani Ranjan Patra (28), Sarat Naik (50), Bhima Kishan (27), Narayana Hasti (41) and Biswanath Hasti (55).
Barring Sarat Naik and Bhima Kishan, who are from Sambalpur, the rest hail from Kello village in Gurundia police station area in Sundargarh district, the forest officer said.
“We were keeping them under close surveillance for the last three months and were gathering intelligence about them, which led to their arrest. Apart from ACF of Bonai forest division, range officers of Jarda and Tamra range, and another 35 departmental staffers were part of the teams to arrest them,” the DFO said.
The forest officers seized five guns, monkey skin, barking deer trophy, snare, bow and arrow, gunpowder, pellets, two mobile phones, one motorcycle, feathers of Indian peafowl and porcupine spine.
PTI
