Korba, Jan 28 (PTI) Seven persons have been arrested for allegedly smuggling a pangolin, which was rescued by forest officials in Chhattisgarh's Korba district, an official said on Thursday.

The accused were nabbed from Kartala forest range on Wednesday when they were allegedly trying to sell the pangolin, said Gurunathan N, divisional forest officer (DFO) of Korba forest division.

"We have been receiving inputs about a racket involved in wildlife smuggling. We recently got a lead that they were looking to sell a pangolin and forest staff approached them posing as customers," the official said.

The deal was struck at Rs 20 lakh and the accused were nabbed at Shrimar village when they came to sell the mammal, he added.

The accused Neera Singh (40), Ishwar Tirki (33), Mehattar Singh (52), Gorelal Manjhwar (35), Bajrang Das (45), Avadhram Rathiya (35) and Kapiketan Das (46) were booked under provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, he said.

Three motorcycles and seven mobile phones were also seized from their possession, the DFO said, adding that further investigation is underway.

(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)