West Bengal’s forest department personnel have arrested three Nepali nationals accused of smuggling animal skins in Siliguri on Monday night.
“We recovered the skins of three wildlife animals from them,” officials said on Wednesday.
Of the seized skins, two are of red pandas, while one is that of a full-grown leopard. The alleged smugglers were carrying the items in a school bag.
Acting on a tip-off that some people smuggling wildlife items had reached Siliguri, Baikunthapur forest department personnel carried out an operation and intercepted them at a place on PWD Road in the city on Monday night.
The accused were trying to smuggle the items to Bhutan via Siliguri, an official said.
Woman falls from bus, hurt
A woman named Riya Das, 28, sustained injuries after she fell off the footboard of a bus while trying to board it near an Anjali Jewellers’ outlet on Gariahat Road South late on Monday, police said. She has been admitted to AMRI, Dhakuria.