Post News Network
Kendrapara, Jan 6: Police Tuesday arrested two persons near Ramanagar Bazar under Mahakalapara block in this coastal district on the charge of smuggling exotic species of Indian chameleon.
The police seized a chameleon from them while they were carrying it on their bike to the port town of Paradip, Jamboo police outpost-in-charge Bhagabat Mahalik said.
Mahalik said acting on a tip-off that some people had trapped a chameleon from Batighar area under Mahakalapara block and were bringing it to Paradip, a police team conducted a raid and seized the reptile from them.
The seized chameleon would be of 1.05 feet long, Mahakalapara ranger Bijay Kumar Parida said. According to Parida, the two smugglers had collected the chameleon from a poacher of Batighar area, who allegedly trapped it from Kharanashi reserve forest under Mahakalapara range. The smugglers paid Rs 20,000 and assured the poacher to pay another Rs 30,000 through cheque. The arrested persons were charged under sections 9 and 39 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. They were later produced in the court of sub-divisional judicial magistrate, Kendrapara. The seized chameleon was released back in the Kharanasi reserve forest, Parida said.