In a major strike against illegal wildlife trade, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence’s (DRI’s) Nagpur Regional Unit, under the Mumbai Zonal Unit, seized a leopard skin with head (in trophy form) in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

Acting on specific intelligence, officers of the DRI Nagpur Unit intercepted three individuals at a hotel in Bhopal, recovering a leopard skin with the head preserved for display. Leopards are listed in Schedule I of the Act, prohibiting the trade, sale, purchase, or possession of their skins or parts.

The seized item and the three apprehended individuals were handed over to the Bhopal Forest Division for further action under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

This operation adds to DRI Mumbai’s past track record in combating wildlife crime. In May, DRI seized two leopard skins (in trophy form) and one ivory (wild boar tooth) in Ujjain. Similarly, in July, it intercepted six individuals involved in the killing of a tiger cub by electrocution at Seoni, Madhya Pradesh, recovering nine tiger nails, 61 tiger bones, and the cub’s partially decomposed carcass. In August, two leopard skins were seized in Rayagada, Odisha, and four people were arrested.

Through close coordination with state forest departments and other enforcement agencies, DRI said that it continues to dismantle national and international trafficking networks through precise, intelligence-driven enforcement under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

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