Nabarangpur: Acting on a tip-off, forest officials arrested five persons and seized a leopard skin during a raid in the Dabugaon area of Nabarangpur district Monday.
Acting on the instructions of Nabarangpur Divisional Forest Officer Shubhendu Prasad Behera, forest officials conducted a raid in the Chikili reserved forest near Dabugaon block headquarters.
The arrested persons have been identified as Arjun Harijan (30) of Bania village and Mihir Harijan (25) of Pakhanaguda village under Nabarangpur police limits; and Shiva Kalar (38), Kedarnath Bisoi (42) of Maidalpur village, and Baichandra Mangali (49) of Gopiguda village under Maidalpur police limits.
According to reports, wildlife traffickers from the Maidalpur area had procured the leopard skin from the Karlapat Wildlife Sanctuary in Kalahandi district and were transporting it to Koraput for sale.
Acting on the information, forest personnel kept watch near Maidalpur. On learning about the surveillance, the traffickers changed their route and moved through forest paths, eventually reaching Chikili forest near Dabugaon.
Forest officials, who were already lying in wait, surrounded the accused from all sides and apprehended two persons on the spot. They were later taken to the Dabugaon forest office. Based on their interrogation, three more associates were brought from Maidalpur and subsequently arrested.
Officials seized one leopard skin and two motorcycles (OD 24 P 2425 and OD 24 F 6562) from the accused.
A case has been registered at the Dabugaon forest range office (Case No. 1/2026-27).
The operation was carried out under the leadership of Assistant Conservator of Forests Divya Madhuri Sethi, with the involvement of in-charge Range Officer Ramachandra Bhatra, Forester Madhusudan Patra, and forest staff, including Ankush Das, Kartik Majhi, Lalu Bishoi, Tapas Pattnaik, and Ritarani.
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