Attempt to sell elephant tusk by gang foiled near Natham; forest officials detain suspects

The tusk, weighing about 600 grams, that was seized by a team of forest department officials at Nochi Odaipatti in Dindigul district on Friday.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

An attempt to sell a tusk of an elephant by a gang was successfully foiled by a team of officials from the Department of Forests here on Friday.

Following specific input that the gang was heading towards Madurai via Dindigul-Natham route, the team had intensified surveillance.

When a SUV was intercepted at Nochi Odaipatti, the forest officials seized a tusk weighing about 600 grams from the vehicle.

As their statements were contradictory, the officials interrogated them separately and for discreet probe, they took the suspects to Sirumalai forest office.

A senior officer said that Perumal of Sirumalai, who had taken a land for lease in Panrimalai was growing different crops. A few months ago, it was said that two elephants fought and in the process, a tusk of an elephant broke. Perumal took possession of the tusk and shared about it with his friend Jayakumar of Sirumalai.

The duo, later approached Prabu of Siluvathur and Rangaraj of Gopalpatti and decided to sell the tusk for a fancy price.

After sharing the tusk with a ‘dealer’ in Kerala, they decided to bring it to Madurai to meet a potential client. At this juncture, the forest officials seized the property, the senior official said and added that the man from Kerala was identified as Joshi.

Whether they had planned to sell the tusk to a contact in Madurai or they were planning to take it to some other destination was being investigated, the officer said.

Possession of a tusk or attempt to sell without valid certificate was an offence under the Wildlife Protection Act, said an officer from the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau.

The vehicle was impounded and further investigation was on.