Raipur: Two Maharashtra police personnel were caught with tiger skins in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district and a subsequent search at one of their houses led to the recovery of a large quantity of pangolin scales, forest officials said on Wednesday.
Baburao Madhavi and Bijeshwar Gedam were arrested in Bandi area of West Bhanubratapur forest district along the Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra border on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday while they were transporting tiger skins on a motorcycle, divisional forest officer S Navinkumar said.
The operation was jointly carried out by the anti-poaching unit of Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve, Central and Western Regional Units of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, State Level Flying Squad and West Bhanubratapur Forest Division.
A case has been registered against the duo under the Wildlife (Protection) Act.
During interrogation, Gedam revealed information that prompted forest officials to search his house at Aheri in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, where they found a large quantity of pangolin scales.
Forest officials said that the accused, who worked with the Maharashtra Police, acted as middlemen in the inter-state poaching network. Efforts are currently underway to identify and arrest others involved.
Varun Jain, deputy director of Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve, said preliminary findings indicate that tigers have been poached in the Indravati-Abujmad Tiger Reserve in Bastar, one of the most important tiger habitats in central India.
The operation was conducted under ‘Operation Safe Corridor’, an initiative aimed at protecting the nearly 400-km-long wildlife corridor that connects Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli forests to Indravati Tiger Reserve, Abujmad, Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve and Sunabeda Wildlife Sanctuary in Odisha.
Officials said the corridor is vital for tiger movement and for maintaining genetic connectivity of elephants, gaur, wild buffalo and other wildlife species.
Jain said the anti-poaching unit of the Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve carried out similar interstate operations in 2023, which led to the arrest of several poachers and the confiscation of tiger skins.
In April this year, the unit also arrested a poacher accused of poaching nine Indian giant squirrels in Abu Jumada.
