The Wazeedu police on Tuesday arrested five persons and seized tiger skin from their possession at Jagannadhapuram village in Wazeedu mandal.
Acting on specific information, the police launched a vehicle checking drive near Jagannadhapuram on Tuesday morning and apprehended five persons moving under suspicious circumstances on two bikes on the outskirts of the village.
The police recovered a tiger skin and three mobile phones from them.
Among those arrested, four hail from Mulugu district and one from Bhadradri-Kothagudem district.
Police said the prime accused Vignesh, a native of K Kondapuram in Venkatapuram mandal, along with his accomplices had gone to Avupally village in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Monday.
The accused allegedly purchased the tiger skin from suspected poachers at Avupally and headed back to Mulugu district on their bikes to sell it when caught by the police during the vehicle checking drive.
Speaking to mediapersons in Mulugu on Tuesday afternoon, Superintendent of Police Sangram Singh Patil said efforts were on to apprehend the remaining accused in the case. The offence attracts several penal provisions of the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972, and the case is being handed over to the Forest Department for further investigation.
