Jabalpur police have recovered 18 skins of deer and four of black buck and about 12 deer-horns on Monday. Besides, a gun and other equipment used for hunting animals have also been seized from the spot.

These arrests have come after two poachers with two tiger skins, four skins of black buck, one skin of chinkara and eleven skins of spotted deer were also held on December 18.

The recent recovery was carried out after collecting information from the poachers - Munna alias Dhanraj Mogia and Raja Pardi - under police remand for the last 7-days. The duo have also confessed of selling animal skins in the past.

The police apprehend presence of a larger poaching network operating in Madhya Pradesh. "Recovery of such a large number of skins, including those of tiger, points that this is not possible for 2-3 persons to manage. A network of poachers might be present in Madhya Pradesh," City Superintendent of Police, Omti, Jabalpur Satyendra Shukla said.

"We have taken the matter seriously and carrying out intensive investigations," he added. Earlier in January, the Supreme Court had directed the Centre to investigate and clarify dwindling tiger population allegedly due to poaching in Panna Tiger Reserve of Madhya Pradesh.

The petition was filed by a wild life expert and member of the Steering Committee of Project Tiger Ashok Kumar, who had sought inquiry into the diminishing population of big cats in Tiger Reserves and sanctuaries including Bandhavgarh and Kanha Tiger Reserves, besides Panna.

An affidavit filed by the Centre earlier this year had stated that as many as 411 tigers vanished from the forests across India during 1999-2003, of which 352 were accounted for by poachers.