Leopard claws, pangolin scales seized in Bastar

Jabalpur: The Madhya Pradesh unit of wildlife crime control bureau (WCCB) and Chhattisgarh forest department on Sunday confiscated 19kg pangolin scales, four star turtles and six leopard claws from five people while they were trying to sell the contraband.
They have been charged under Wildlife Protection Act for smuggling. The arrests were made in different places of Maoist-hit Bastar division in Chhattisgarh over the last 48 hours. Officials had a tip-off a gang was trying to trade prohibited wildlife articles. Two men were arrested from Jagdalpur, 300km from Raipur. The accused tried to escape, but were chased down. They were carrying a bag containing pangolin scales.
Their interrogation led to the seizure of 6.9kg of pangolin scales and six leopard claws in two more raids in Jagdalpur. Four star tortoises were seized from Dantewada district in a separate raid. The Indian star tortoise is marked as ‘vulnerable’ on the IUCN red list and pangolin is classified as ‘endangered’. The suspects are being interrogated.