Odisha: Two held for illegal trade in wildlife parts

BHUBANESWAR: The special task force (STF) of the state Crime Branch here on Sunday arrested two persons from Nayagarh district on charges of smuggling wildlife organs. The STF seized a leopard skin and two elephant tusks from the accused, who were identified as Ramesh Pratihari of Narsinghpur area in Cuttack district and Bimbadhar Tarei of Gania area in Nayagarh district. “Our personnel raided a place near Maa Kalapata Mandir on the banks of Mahanadi and arrested the accused. One of the accused is a poacher,” STF’s deputy inspector general J N Pankaj said.