Monday, 24 JULY 2023 | PNS | DEHRADUN

The Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) arrested four men on Saturday and seized a Tiger Pelt with 15 kilogrammes of bones in a late evening raid at Khatima in Udham Singh Nagar. The STF busted the gang of these wildlife smugglers in association with the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and Terai East Forest Division. The authorities recovered an 11 feet long tiger pelt from smugglers which is the largest tiger pelt ever caught in the State, said the senior superintendent of police of STF Ayush Agrawal. He said that the accused have been identified as Krishan Kumar, Gajendra Singh, Sanjay Kumar and Harish Kumar, and all belong to the Dharchula area of Pithoragarh district. He said that a case has been registered against them under the Wildlife Protection Act in the Terai East forest division of Khatima. He said that the STF received a tip-off on Saturday that four smugglers are coming towards Khatima in a white jeep considering which, the joint team intercepted them at the Khatima toll plaza. The teams started interrogation after they recovered the tiger’s pelt and bones while searching the jeep. “The accused revealed during the questioning that they had collected the tiger pelt and bones from Kashipur and were on their way to sell them in Khatima,” said the SSP. He said that a case in this regard was also registered at Terai East forest division under the Wildlife Protection Act. “We have also been trying to collect information about how and when they poached the tiger. We will make more arrests in this matter,” added Agrawal. The SSP has also announced a cash reward of Rs 5,000 for the STF team.