The authorities have detained five persons for killing a snow leopard in Hoper Valley, Gilgit-Baltistan. Three of them have been sentenced to jail by the wildlife magistrate.

As per reports, a female snow leopard was killed in Hoper while her two cubs lost. The wildlife team was able to recover the skin of the slain leopard and a search operation to find the missing cubs is underway.

The wildlife department arrested a man with the help of law enforcement agencies on Tuesday after getting information about the killing of the snow leopard. 25-year old Mohammad Saleem, a resident of Hoper valley confessed to his crime and told the authorities that he along with his friends killed a female snow leopard near Hoper glacier almost 12 days ago. He said that the leopard was living with her two cubs in the mountain near the glacier and they set the cubs free after killing the leopard.

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Later the police also arrested four more culprits involved in the crime. They were identified as Mohammad and Jaffar Ali, residents of Hoper and Mohammad Amin and Jan Alam, residents of Hunza.

Mohammad Saleem and Mohammad were sentenced to one year jail with a fine of Rs5,000,000 on each of them while another accused man was sentenced to one-month imprisonment.

According to details, Mohammad Saleem posted the pictures of the snow leopard on social media after killing it.