Ramanthapuram: Forest Department officials and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau sleuths seized a leopard skin and arrested three persons, including two who came from Kerala to buy the skin, at Sayalkudi in the district.
Acting on a tip-off, a special team led by Sayalkudi Forest Range Officer G. Venkatesh and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau Inspector T.P. Pradeep raided a house at Sayalkudi on Tuesday night and seized the leopard skin.
The team arrested one Mohan (45), who was in possession of the animal skin.
Mr. Pradeep said Ismail, the main accused, who had brought the skin, was absconding. The team also arrested A. Nizamudhin (36) and R. Anish (32), who had come from Kerala to purchase the skin. The origin of the skin and the modus operandi of the gang would be known only after the arrest of the main accused.
Preliminary analysis of the skin revealed that it was a five or six-year-old male leopard. The arrested were produced before a magistrate court and remanded in judicial custody, he added.
