C'garh: Seven held for smuggling pangolin in Korba district

Seven persons have been arrestedfor allegedly smuggling a pangolin, which was rescued byforest officials in Chhattisgarh's Korba district, an officialsaid on Thursday.

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

''We have been receiving inputs about a racket involvedin wildlife smuggling. We recently got a lead that they werelooking to sell a pangolin and forest staff approached themposing as customers,'' the official said.

The deal was struck at Rs 20 lakh and the accused werenabbed 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 underprovisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, he said.

Three motorcycles and seven mobile phones were alsoseized from their possession, the DFO said, adding thatfurther investigation is underway.