Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh): A joint team comprising Crime branch sleuths and Panagar police officials of Jabalpur arrested three persons for smuggling leopard skin, the police said on Friday. Official sources said that following a tip-off from the whistle-blower on Thursday night about two men travelling by a four-wheeler and trying to smuggle the skin of a leopard, the team comprising crime branch officials and police personnel sprung into action. The team reached the directed spot and stopped the vehicle, through which the suspects were travelling.
The suspects tried to flee but were detained eventually. The suspects identified themselves as Prateek Choubey and (33) and Shankar Patel (50). When the team inspected the car, they found a leopard skin and several other possessions, which included Rs 7 thousand in cash and two cell phones. When Choubey was questioned with regard to the leopard skin, he said that he had purchased it from a man identified as Vishraam Singh Gond, a resident of Jamuniya village. The team rushed to Jamuniya village and arrested Gond. All three of the accused were sent to jail under the relevant sections of the Forest act.