Across Asia: India

Record skin stash seized

Indian authorities arrested two suspected smugglers trying to ship nearly two dozen tiger, leopard and python skins to neighboring Nepal in one of the country's largest illicit wildlife seizures, officials said yesterday.

Acting on a tip, police recovered 22 skins from the baggage of a retired Indian army soldier and a civilian accomplice on Monday in Pratapgarh, a town 150 km southeast of Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh state, said A. P. Sinha, a district forest official.