The Special Task Force (STF) of the Crime Branch conducted a raid near village Karni Khunti on the Bhawanipatna-Madanpur road under the Narla police station in Kalahandi district and arrested a wildlife smuggler and rescued a live pangolin on Sunday.
The accused was identified as Jitendra Kumar of Tagarla village Kesinga in the Kalahandi district.
On a tipoff, the STF team with help of forest officials carried out the raid and during search recovered the animal and other incriminating materials.
The accused could not produce any authority in support of the possession of the pangolin, for which he was detained and handed over to the forest officials for necessary legal action.
Later, the pangolin was also handed over to the Kalahandi DFO for safe custody.
In the special drive against wildlife trade from 2020, the STF has seized as many as 14 live pangolins, 28 leopard skins, 24 elephant tasks, seven deer skins, 30.4 kg of pangolin scales, two leopard teeth, 29 leopard claws, 46 live wild parrots and arrested 69 wildlife criminals.
