Forest officials bust ivory smuggling gang in Gudalur

Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Gudalur P K Dileep said that the suspect claimed that he retrieved the tusks from the carcass of the jumbo that died naturally about a year ago. The DFO said that an autopsy would be conducted on the skeletal remains on Tuesday to ascertain its cause of death. The incident came to light following the arrest of three men and seizure of a few tusks from them by the Karnataka police during a vehicle check. 

Forest personnel in Gudalur have started looking into the issue from Sunday, based on a tip-off by the Karnataka police that those arrested by them have named Kunji Mohan of Pandalur in Gudalur as their accomplice. 

Officials here detained Kunji Mohan on Sunday and arrested him after inquiry on Monday. “He claimed that he had retrieved a pair of tusks from an elephant that was found dead in the Gudalur Forest and sold it to the trio. While we spotted the skeletal remains, a post-mortem could not be performed as it was late. On Tuesday we will try to ascertain the cause of death, whether it was poached or subjected to cruelty,” a forest officer added.

Forest personnel in Tamil Nadu are in the process of handing over Kunji Mohan to Karnataka police for questioning and to take custody of the trio arrested by them to unearth the network engaged in smuggling of ivory. 

Wildlife enthusiasts have expressed concern over the incident that has resurfaced as it comes to light just about a year after forest department personnel arrested a gang involved in poaching of jumbos and smuggling their ivory tusks, for close to a decade in the forests, in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, towards the end of 2015.