LUCKNOW: Three people have been arrested with the skins of four spotted deer in an Uttar Pradesh district bordering Nepal, a forest official said Wednesday.
"The three men, who are in their late 30s, were nabbed Tuesday night from their hideout in a village adjoining the Motipur forest of Sohelwa wildlife sanctuary," Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) V.P. Singh told IANS over the phone from Balrampur, some 200 km from Lucknow.
According to officials, the three men have admitted that they were in the poaching trade for the last two years and worked for a Nepal-based wildlife poaching gang.
The three men also admitted to having clients in Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and other states of the country.
Under the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA), 1972, killing a spotted deer is a criminal offence.
Spotted deer, popularly known as chital in Hindi, is the most common deer species in India's forests. Its coat is reddish fawn, marked with white spots.
