Odisha Crime Branch Likely To Probe Pangolin Smuggling Case

Bhubaneswar: The Crime Branch will most likely probe the smuggling of Pangolin from Odisha, said the Forest Department on Wednesday.

Informing the media here, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), Hari Shankar Upadhyay, said he has written a letter to the Crime Branch ADG for a probe into the illegal trading of Pangolin in Khuntuni range of Athagarh Forest Division in Cuttack district.

“The Forest Department has so far arrested about 20 persons for their complicity in the smuggling of Pangolin. We have information that some persons from Bhadrak district and Buxi Bazar area in Cuttack city are part of the smuggling racket. Since the Crime Branch has a wider intelligence network, it will be able to bust the modus operandi of the racket,” Upadhyay said.