Poachers held with leopard skin
By IANSThursday, February 10, 2011
LAKHIMPUR KHERI - Two poachers were arrested in Uttar Pradesh’s Lakhimpur Kheri district Thursday with a leopard skin, police said.
The two were arrested from Sadar area following a joint operation by the district police and the forest department.
“The two have been involved in the illegal trade of wild animals’ skins, hides, antlers and other body parts for the last four-five years,” police inspector V.K. Mishra told reporters here, some 200 km from state capital Lucknow.
“They had their clients in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. We are yet to establish where the leopard was killed,” he added.
Killing a leopard is a serious offence as per the Indian Wildlife Act. Offenders can get three to seven years of rigorous imprisonment if proven guilty.
