Four smugglers arrested

The North District police have arrested a 50-year-old man for allegedly trading in prohibited seashells. The police have also recovered 20,000 articles of 12 endangered and rare species during a raid on Saturday.

The North District police have arrested a 50-year-old man for allegedly trading in prohibited seashells. The police have also recovered 20,000 articles of 12 endangered and rare species during a raid on Saturday. In another case, three people were nabbed with four animal skins, including that of a leopard.

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In first case, the police said Yogender Shukla had been dealing in seashells for the last 23-years. “The resident of Rohini was caught on Friday from Punjabi Basti in Subzi Mandi of North Delhi on a tip off by People for Animals,” said DCP (North) Sagarpreet Hooda.

A raid was conducted at Shukla's shop and more than 20,000 articles (shells) of 12 different endangered and rare species under the Wild Life Protection Act, 1972, were recovered, police said.

In the other case, the police arrested a gang involved in the trade of leopard skin. One of the accused had unsuccessfully contested Delhi Assembly elections in 2008, police said.

The police recovered skins of four wild animals from them.

“We have arrested Satish Thakur (27), Vipin Kumar (28) and Mahender Nath (21). They are from Himachal Pradesh and Haryana,” Hooda said. htc