2 given 6 months jail for smuggling leopard skin

Bhubaneswar: The court of the sub-divisional judicial magistrate (SDJM) in Khurda on Tuesday sentenced two persons to undergo six months of rigorous imprisonment for smuggling a leopard skin in April last year, the special task force (STF) of the state Crime Branch said in a statement on Wednesday. The convicts were identified as

Sudhira Behera and Subash Chandra Behera

, who were arrested by the

STF

from

Bolagada

area in April. This is the first wildlife case involving the STF that has ended in conviction. “We started probing wildlife crimes in 2018. A number of rackets have been busted. Trial in this particular case has ended in conviction,” a senior STF officer said. The STF has seized at least 25 leopard skins, 13 elephant tusks, 7 deer skins, rescued 9 pangolins and seized 16 kg pangolin scales since 2020 till now. TNN