The Thane Crime Branch is on the hunt for a forest official who was allegedly involved in the poaching of Pangolin and for trying to sell it at the price of Rs 40,00,000. Pangolin is a protected Schedule-1 anteater entitled to the highest degree of protection under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 — same as a tiger.

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Ashok Jadhav, 29 and Santosh Buthala, 28, both residents of Poladpur in Raigad, were arrested for allegedly poaching the Pangolin from Sahyadri ranges. The duo had planned to sell the animal to a customer in Thane, who was to remove its scales and sell it in the international market. Shockingly, a forest official has now come under the radar in the matter after the crime branch's thorough interrogations of the accused.

"The accused persons entered the restricted zone of the forest and managed to poach the Pangolin. The duo have confessed that earlier too they had managed to poach animals and sell them in the market, which were further being smuggled in the international market enroute Nepal," said a Thane crime branch officer. "The accused had arrived in an SUV, which too has been seized. They were asked to handover the animal, whose scales and claws would then be removed to be sold in the international market," said the officer.