Three arrested with tiger skins in Chhattisgarh

Raipur, April 20 (IANS) Three men were arrested with tiger skins while they were trying to sell these in Chhattisgarh, police said here Friday.

According to police, the three men were arrested under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, Thursday evening by forest department officials in Kanker district's Bhanupratapur area, some 240 km south from state capital Raipur.

According to the forest department, two tiger skins were seized from them and were valued at over Rs.500,000 in international market.

"The three were arrested based on specific intelligence inputs. They could be members of an inter-state poaching gang. The police are investigating," Arun Kumar Pandey, forest conservator in Kanker, told IANS over phone.

He said that since January this year 17 people have been arrested in Kanker district for anti-poaching activities.