Three poachers arrested from Debrigarh Sanctuary

Bhubaneswar: At least 3 poachers have been arrested from Debrigarh Sanctuary by night the patrolling team of Hirakud Wildlife Division on Sunday morning.

The team headed by a forester, lady forest guard, and 10 squads while patrolling at periphery areas of Debrigarh Sanctuary, near Rengali Beat of the western part of Debrigarh Sanctuary, in Bargarh District nabbed the poachers.

One country-made gun, knife, axe, and matchstick were ceased from them.

“When our squads tried to nab the poachers, they fired toward the forest staff. After receipt of the information on the movement of these poachers from Kuketira and Rengali side to Sanctuary,  the patrolling was intensified in that zone and arrested them late at night,” informed Anshu Pragyan Das, Hirakud Divisional Forest Officer .

Regular patrolling is being done in the sanctuary. Six troops have been engaged to do patrolling in the periphery areas of the sanctuary and two troops cover the border of the sanctuary, while 12 teams patrol inside the sanctuary. Sharing of information is done by 5 control rooms operated by trained VHF operators.

From the preliminary investigation, it has been revealed that the country-made guns were procured by the accused from villages Megpal and Basupali near the Kisinda area of the Sambalpur district. They were making gunpowder in the village for use in guns.

“Poaching intended to sell the meat, animal trophies like skin and horns,” shared DFO.

The accused named Subhas Gardia, Raghupati Dharua, and Digambar Sahu have been forwarded to the Attabira court. Further investigation is under progress.

Since the sighting of a tiger in the Debrigarh sanctuary in December last year, the forest department has been on a mission to arrest these poachers. Posters were put across 100 villagers surrounding the sanctuary informing about these poachers, shared the official.