According to the Field Director, Anup Naik, the skin was old, tanned and processed. This point to a nexus extending out of State involving poaching and processing the wildlife products for sale.

The honorary wildlife warden, Bhanumitra Acharya, who led the seizure said that the skin, 8.5 feet long and 3 feet wide, had five bullet marks. The recovery was made from a guest house in Baripada, about 25 kms away from the reserve.

Based on a tip-off, Acharya along with his group tracked the skin for the past 10 days by posing as customers. It was after the traders called them to buy the product, they were nabbed by the forest personnel.

“The four arrested have been found to be villagers living near the periphery of the reserve”, Naik said, adding they are just the middlemen. The state of the skin shows that such processing work could not have been done in Baripada, the nearest town to the reserve, he said.

“We are trying to boost up our intelligence network by involving the local persons from the fringe villages,” pointed out Naik. Since the reserve is close to the Jharkhand border, the criminals often escape from the reserve to the State after committing the crime “it is thus easier for them to operate across the neighbouring Naxal-hit States”, he added. Patrolling has further been intensified in the core and buffer areas.

According to sources in National Tiger Conservation Authority, the Naxal-hit Simlipal Tiger Reserve, which is amongst the thirteen most sensitive in the country, has been provided with a central assistance of `2.4 crores during the last fiscal for raising Special Tiger Protection Force. The amount is lying unspent.