Athagarh: Forest officials of Athagarh Forest Division in Cuttack district Tuesday arrested the mastermind of the pangolin smuggling racket from Dhenkanal. Briefing the media here Wednesday, Athagarh Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Sasmita Lenka identified the accused as Shyamsundar Behera of Badamba area. He is the headmaster of a primary school at Kayalapada panchayat under Tangi-Choudwar block.
Giving details of the arrest, the DFO said that a special team of forest staff had recently rescued a pangolin near Madhusudan Setu while it was being taken on a scooter and arrested a person.
“During the interrogation of the arrested person, we came to know that the chain of the pangolin racket is linked to Angul and Redhakhol. In the course of the investigation, five persons were arrested from Angul and Dhenkanal. From the statement of the five arrested persons, we found that Behera was the mastermind of the racket. As he frequently changed his SIM cards, we were unable to trace his whereabouts. With the help of the cyber police, we finally nabbed him yesterday,” the DFO added.
She said the accused will be forwarded to the court after the interrogation.
It may be noted here that Forest officials of Athagarh division had busted a big pangolin smuggling racket in November 2019 and arrested six persons. Pangolin scales were recovered from the arrested people. The arrested admitted their involvement in trading of pangolins and their scales in and outside the State.
PNN