Balasore, March 14: Vigilance sleuths arrested a 20-year-old youth of Mayurbhanj last evening on charge of possessing illegal wildlife products.

Two leopard hides were seized from his possession. The vigilance team handed over the accused, identified as Maheswar Nayak, resident of Dhopada in the Sarat police station limit in Mayurbhanj district, to the forest department for further interrogation. One leopard skin is measured 6 feet 4 inches in length, while the other one was more than 5 feet. Deputy superintendent of police (vigilance wing) Radhakrushna Kanungo, who headed the raiding team, said: “We had received an input that the accused was trying to sell the leopard skins. Accordingly, we laid a trap after locating him. Posing as buyers for exporting those to Bengal we negotiated with him. The deal was struck at Rs 40,000.”

“We withdrew the money from an ATM counter and gave him the cash. He had hidden the skins in a field. After he brought the skins we seized them,” said Kanungo.

During interrogation, Nayak said he had procured the skins about five years ago from a group of Mankadia tribal people of Nilgiri. While one leopard skin appeared to be of an adult, the other one could be of a sub-adult one, said a forest official. Leopards are categorised as the Schedule I category animal under the Wildlife Protection Act.

Regional chief conservator of forests Anup Nayak said: “The accused is being interrogated and it is being verified whether he has any link with any poacher gang.”

“The accused has been booked under the Wildlife Protection Act. He would be forwarded to court,” said the official.