Lucknow, Aug 11 (IANS): The UP Special Task Force has busted a gang involved in smuggling of animal skin and teeth from Ayodhya.

The arrested persons have been identified as Dayaram Dubey, Brijesh Kesharwani and Sanjay Tiwari.

Dubey has a puja material shop near the court premises and he allegedly sold prohibited wildlife products used in tantric rituals, which he sourced from Kesharwani and Tiwari.

Police also recovered 20 leopard teeth, 24 nails of leopards, 110 horns of golden jackal, 140 Indrajal plants, skin of two monitor lizards, three mobile phones and Rs 2,550 cash from the accused.

Deputy superintendent of police, STF, Pramesh Shukla said that acting on a tip-off from the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and the forest department, a team was formed to nab the smugglers.

“We intercepted the gang members in Ayodhya while they were trying to smuggle animal skin outside UP,” said Shukla.

The accused informed the STF that the smuggled goods were used for ‘vaastu sadhana’, black magic and to eliminate negative forces.

The trio was nabbed from Kesharwani’s house in ‘Naya Mandir’ compound. They had gathered there to fix a deal for new consignments of prohibited items, said the official.