The anti-poaching unit officials were following the two accused for the past eight days and laid a trap on Tuesday night after conforming the accused were to return with parakeets in morning from Katol.

At 9 am, assistant conservator of forests D B Jiddewar, range forest officer Shivcharan Bhambulkar, forester Rajesh Dakhole, guard Vinayak Charde and driver Rajendra Darode caught Krishna Mangalji Dudhpachare, (34), resident of Pardi, and Ravi Ganesh Raut, (23), of Idgah in Mominpura, and seized the parakeets.

The birds were being brought on a motorcycle in cages while several were tied in pieces of clothes so carelessly that 17 parakeets died of suffocation midway. The dead birds were buried and the remaining 350 birds were released in Seminary Hills.

Bhambulkar said, the accused had procured the birds from Pardhis near Kachari Sawanga (Mendipathal), 7 kms from Katol. The cost of the birds is estimated to be Rs 45,000 in the market.

Parakeets fall under the Schedule IV category of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.

Both the accused said they worked for one Inayat Khan of Mominpura, who sells exotic birds as well as parakeets. “We were paid Rs 100 per day for transporting the birds to his place,” said Dudhpachare.

Although the accused denied that they were not habitual offenders, forest officials said, they were wanted in similar offences. Both were produced before the judicial magistrate first class (JMFC).