Raipur: Two serving Maharashtra Police personnel were arrested with two tiger skins in Chhattisgarh’s Kanker district, and a subsequent search at one of their homes led to the recovery of a large quantity of pangolin scales, forest officials said on Wednesday.Forest officials arrested two Maharashtra Police personnel with two tiger skins and later recovered pangolin scales from a residence in Gadchiroli. (Representative photo)Baburao Madavi and Bijeshwar Gedam were apprehended in the Bande area of the West Bhanupratappur Forest Division along the Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra border on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday while they were transporting two tiger skins on a motorcycle, divisional forest officer S Naveenkumar said.The operation was jointly carried out by the Anti-Poaching Unit of the Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve, the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau's Central and Western Regional units, the State Level Flying Squad, and the West Bhanupratappur Forest Division.A case was registered against the duo under the Wildlife (Protection) Act.During interrogation, Gedam disclosed information that led forest officials to search his residence in Aheri in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district, where they recovered a large quantity of pangolin scales.Forest officials said both accused, who are serving with the Maharashtra Police, allegedly acted as middlemen in an interstate poaching network. Efforts are underway to identify and arrest others involved.Deputy director of Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve Varun Jain said preliminary findings suggest the tigers were poached in the Indravati Tiger Reserve-Abujhmad landscape in Bastar, one of central India's most significant tiger habitats.The operation was conducted under 'Operation Safe Passage', an initiative aimed at protecting the nearly 400-km wildlife corridor connecting the forests of Gadchiroli in Maharashtra with the Indravati Tiger Reserve, Abujhmad, Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve, and Odisha's Sunabeda Wildlife Sanctuary.The corridor is vital for the movement of tigers and for maintaining the genetic connectivity of elephants, gaur, wild buffalo, and other wildlife species, officials said.Jain said the Anti-Poaching Unit of the Udanti Sitanadi Tiger Reserve had carried out similar interstate operations in 2023, leading to the arrest of several poachers and the seizure of two tiger skins.In April this year, the unit also arrested an alleged poacher accused of hunting nine Indian giant squirrels in Abujhmad.