Ivory thieves caught; 10 elephant trunks weighing 51 kg seized

Belthangady: In an operation conducted by a team belonging to Mangaluru Traffic Forest team, elephant tusks weighing a total of 51 kg was seized from a house located along Surya road in the taluk here on Wednesday.

The house was raided based on credible information and altogether 10 elephant tusks weighing a total of 51 kg were seized along with the arrest of three persons.

Not only had the department received information regarding the storing of the elephant tusks at the house since three months, they also had information regarding the seller’s network.

The team which solved the case finally caught Abrahm, Anwar and Suresh Babu from near Surya temple road after consecutive operations. There is information that another accused has managed to escape and is presently on the run. It is being said that the 4 accused have been indulging in this crime since years together and the accused have revealed that they had procured the elephant tusks from Kerala. Altogether 5 pairs of elephant tusks have been confiscated.

The stash includes a pair of tusks belonging to an elephant which was brought down within Puduvettu forest around 8 years back.

One of the accused was working in a gulf country, later returned back to the hometown and started dealing with the trafficking business.

The department believes that there is a huge network connected to this case. For further investigation, the case has been handed over to Belthangady forest department.