Written by: Neeraj Chauhan
2 min readNew DelhiJun 17, 2009 01:36 AM IST
First published on: Jun 17, 2009 at 01:36 AM IST
Delhi Police Crime Branch arrested two wildlife smugglers in Delhi last week and recovered two leopard skins from them.
The accused,identified as Chirag Kotecha and Vikas Goyal,used to supply skin,teeth and other body parts of endangered animals,said the police. They were arrested from Deep Shopping Plaza parking at Ashok Vihar as they waited for a customer. The police said the duo planned to the sell the two leopard skins for Rs eight lakh.
Sources said the customer,who never turned up,has also been identified and the police are further questioning the two accused to unearth the wildlife smuggling racket in Delhi.
Wildlife Inspector accompanied Crime Branch officials in the raid. At the time of arrest,the two were carrying the skins in two bags. “Both the bags had a leopard skin. The skin was uncured and it was rolled up in a cloth and the nails and teeth were broken. Inspector Wildlife identified one of the skins as that of a leopard cub,” said a source.
“By keeping the skin of leopard,a species in Schedule-I of the Wildlife Protection Act,have committed a serious offence,” said an officer.
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