Man held with pair of tusks in Sathyamangalam forest
He kept them buried in the Pasakuttai forest area. Acting on his information, the forest department and police rushed to the spot and retrieved the tusks, which were 5.5 feet in length and each weighed around 30 kg. They were found wrapped in plastic cover.
COIMBATORE: A 42-year-old man was arrested by the forest department for attempting to smuggle a pair of tusks extracted from the carcass of an elephant in Sathyamangalam on Wednesday.
During a joint patrol by the forest department and anti-Maoist squad of police, they spotted a man roaming around suspiciously at Thingalur in the Germalam forest area.
He was identified as Duraisamy from Pasakuttai village and was running a petty shop and a chicken stall.
Inquiries revealed that Duraisamy had extracted tusks from the carcass of an elephant found in the forest area.
He kept them buried in the Pasakuttai forest area. Acting on his information, the forest department and police rushed to the spot and retrieved the tusks, which were 5.5 feet in length and each weighed around 30 kg. They were found wrapped in plastic cover.
An inquiry is underway if the tusks were extracted from the carcass of an elephant on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka interstate border, which is being probed by the Karnataka forest department.
In May this year, S Bomman, 53 from Samraj Nagar in Karnataka was arrested by the forest department in Sathyamangalam for gunning down a wild elephant and extracted its tusks to be traded in the illegal wildlife market. Then, a pair of tusks was seized from him.