Gariaband, Dec 5 (PTI) Police have seized a leopard skin near a village in Chhattisgarh-Odisha border area and arrested five men for allegedly trying to sell it, a forest official said on Tuesday.

Acting on a tip-off about the possibility of leopard skin smuggling, the anti-poaching team of Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve in Chhattisgarh's Gariaband district and neighbouring Odisha forest division conducted a joint operation on Monday night in Kalahandi district of Odisha, USTR deputy director Varun Jain said.

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The team seized a 1.97 metres long leopard skin, two motorcycles, five mobile phones and a sharp edged weapon from the five men on Amapani village road in the district, he said.

Prima facie it seems the feline, around three years old, was poisoned, Jain said.

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The five persons were arrested under relevant provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act and a probe was on into the case.

On November 29, a tiger skin was seized from two persons in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district following an operation by teams of USTR and Maharashtra forest personnel, the official added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)