The pelt, skull with the teeth intact and claws of an adult leopard were seized from Kayamkulam on Monday in a joint operation by personnel of the Punalur and Ranni Flying Squads of the Forest Department.
K.S. Jyothi, range officer of the Punalur squad, said three persons were arrested in connection with the seizure. They were identified as Anuraj and Ajayan, both of Kalavoor in Alappuzha district, and Maxton Herbert of Kollam city. Three more persons, Pran Jayaram, Vishnu and Pichu, managed to escape.
As per information gathered from the arrested persons, the body parts are suspected to be that of a leopard poached from a forest area in Thiruvananthapuram district. The seizure was based on a tip-off by the Intelligence Cell of the department about a possible leopard pelt sale in Kollam district.
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The squads had identified Ajayan as one of the links. The officers contacted Ajayan feigning as traders. It led to negotiations with the other five.
The price demanded for the pelt alone was Rs.30 lakh. The forest team offered Rs.10 lakh. They were then told about the skull, teeth, and claws. The deal was fixed at Rs.12 lakh. The gang agreed to deliver the body parts at a location near the Kayamkulam KSRTC stand on Monday. The forest officers arrested the accused when they came to deliver the consignment. An altercation followed and three persons managed to escape. Those in the forest team included range officer A. Abdul Hadi of the Ranni flying squad, section forest officers Narayanan Pillai and Sasankan Nair and beat forest officers Justin Joseph and Prabhat Kumar.