Eight poachers held at Mancherial
They were trying to sell live pangolin for Rs 1.5 crore
Mancherial: Eight poachers were arrested by sleuths of a task force team for allegedly trying to sell a live pangolin to potential buyers through brokers for Rs 1.5 crore on the outskirts of Sandrapet village in Kasipet mandal on Sunday. Three motorbikes, eight mobile phones and a knife were recovered from them. Another accused was absconding.
Producing the poachers before the media, Mancherial Deputy Commissioner of Police D Uday Kumar Reddy said that the accused were Palle Shankar, Palle Ravi, Dadi Mallesh, residents of Kasipet mandal, Edula Laxman, a native of Mancherial town, Marineni Raj Kumar from Kannepalli mandal, Digide Shankar belonging to Konchevelli in Dahegaon mandal of Kumram Bheem Asifabad district and Reddipaka Narender and Maloth Kishore of Naspur mandal.
The eight poachers were detained when they were attempting to dispose of the endangered mammal with the help of some brokers, following a tip.
During the course of interrogations, Shankar, Ravi and Mallesh confessed to hunting the scaly anteaters after learning about the huge demand for the animal in foreign countries by watching videos on YouTube, in the forests of Bellampalli on Friday night. They admitted that they had hid it in the residence of Mallesh.
The traffickers said they were about to sell the animal to some buyers by taking assistance of different brokers belonging to several parts of Telangana.
They disclosed that they indulged in the offence by believing that the scales of the pangolin would be used in traditional medicine which can cure cancer and many other deadly diseases. They revealed that the eight were planning to share profits earned in selling the mammal.
Uday Kumar said that the policemen were protecting the forest and were preventing smuggling of teak timber, using drone cameras. He cautioned that stern action would be taken against the poachers and smugglers of the wood.
He commended members of the task force team including Inspector T Kiran, Sub-Inspectors Lacchanna, Ch Kiran and constables Sampath Kumar, Rakesh, Bhaskar Goud, Omkar, etc.
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