It’s a second case of skin seizure this month. On August 1, the bureau, along with the elite Special Operations Squad of the Delhi Crime Branch, seized a leopard skin and arrested an accused, Sandeep Sansanwal, in Delhi.

Vikasnagar, meanwhile, is emerging as a hideout for poachers. On 28 July, another leopard skin was seized at Vikasnagar in a joint operation by the Uttarakhand Special Task Force, NGO Wildlife SOS and the bureau.

The seizure also exposed a link between narcotics and wildlife crime when the accused, Yusuf, was arrested with around 300 grams of heroin in his possession. “The Uttarakhand Special Task Force had a lead on this poaching crime and they contacted us. The seizure proves that narcotics and wildlife crime go hand-in-hand, as both are high risk, high incentive,” said Kartick Satyanarayan from Wildlife SOS, member of the advisory board, WCCB.

Just a day before this seizure, the UP Special Task Force on July 27 seized as many as 8 leopard skins in Saharanpur. Before that, a leopard skin was seized at Almora, Uttarakhand on 22 July.

“According to our estimates, as many as 105 leopards have been poached this year, mostly from Western Himalayas, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh,” said Tito Joseph, programme manager, Wildlife Protection Society of India.

Senior WCCB officials said they were interrogating the accused. “Leopard poaching is rampant and it is part of an unorganised sector. This means poachers strike in any season though the traders and the trade routes remain the same,” said Ramesh K Pandey, deputy director, WCCB.

Recent seizures

•August 6: One leopard skin seized in Vikasnagar, near Dehradun. One arrested.

•August 1: One leopard skin seized in Delhi. One held.

•July 28: One leopard skin seized. Yusuf arrested with narcotics in his possession.

•July 27: Eight leopard skins seized by UP STF in Saharanpur. Three persons arrested.

•July 22: One leopard skin seized by Uttarakhand police in Almora. Two persons held.