Ex-cop among 7 held for smuggling leopard skin

Berhampur: Seven persons, including a retired police officer, were arrested on Sunday in Ganjam district for their alleged involvement in smuggling of leopard skin, police said. The accused were apprehended from a house in Bhanjanagar North Forest Division area and a private lodge.

A Forest department team also recovered a seven-foot leopard skin, sharp weapons, motorcycles and mobile phones among other items from their possession, said Himansu Sekhar Mohanty, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Ghumsur North Division.

“As the leopard skin had a bullet wound mark, we suspect that the poachers might have killed it about a month ago. An investigation is underway,” he said. The leopard skin has been sent to the animal testing laboratory of Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology (OUAT), Bhubaneswar, for DNA profiling, the DFO added.