Tiger skins seized in Haryana, 5 held

Panipat: Five tiger skins, worth Rs.1.5.crore, were seized from five wildlfe smugglers arrested in this Haryana town, an official said on Wednesday. Working on a tip-off, police laid a trap near the Panipat bus-stand late Tuesday and arrested the five, busting the gang. “We intercepted a car, which was coming from Delhi side, Tuesday night and made the recovery of tiger skins. One skin is of an adult tiger while four are of cubs. We have also arrested five occupants of the car,” Additional Superintendent of Police Pankaj Nain told IANS. He said the five revealed that the skins were from from a Delhi-based smuggler Sudarshan alias Bittu and were supposed to be handed to another smuggler in Haryana. “This gang was active in this region for the last many months. Their interrogation is on and we expect more arrests in the coming days,” Nain said. The arrested men were identified as Irfan, Pawan (both residents of Delhi), Ashok Kumar, Sunil Gupta and Ram Narayan (from different parts of Haryana). (IANS)