Six including two forest officials arrested for trying to sell dead elephant tusks at the Anaimalai Tiger Reserve.
Coimbatore: Six people, including two forest officials, have been arrested for trying to sell tusks of a dead elephant at the Anaimalai Tiger Reserve.
Anaimalai Tiger Reserve is located in the Western Ghats near Pollachi. There are four forest reserves in Pollachi forest reserve, Pollachi, Valparai, Manampalli and Topslip (Ulandi). More than a hundred forest personnel and anti-poaching guards work here.
The Central Wildlife Crime Prevention Committee has received confidential information that ivory was being sold illegally at a private pet market in the Azhiyar area under the Pollachi Wildlife Sanctuary. Following this, the forest officials who went there carried out the inspection.
Two ivory tusks were kept hidden there.
Following this, forest officials questioned Manikandan (38), the owner of the pet shop in Valparai. During the investigation, Samiyappan, 30, of Angalakurichi JJ Nagar, who works in the Azhiyar forest area under the Pollachi Forest Reserve, and his co-worker, Kathavarayan (40), a temporary guard, were patrolling the dense forest of Vedikaranpallam in the Azhiyar forest last few weeks.
There, they found a dead male elephant ivory and demanded that it be sold in the black market. According to this, people from Angalakurichi J.J. Nagar, Sikander Basha (37), Sarathi (63) and Nandakumar (39) from the city were trying to sell ivory together.
Anaimalai Tiger Reserve is located in the Western Ghats near Pollachi. There are four forest reserves in Pollachi forest reserve, Pollachi, Valparai, Manampalli and Topslip (Ulandi). More than a hundred forest personnel and anti-poaching guards work here.
The Central Wildlife Crime Prevention Committee has received confidential information that ivory was being sold illegally at a private pet market in the Azhiyar area under the Pollachi Wildlife Sanctuary. Following this, the forest officials who went there carried out the inspection.
Two ivory tusks were kept hidden there.
Following this, forest officials questioned Manikandan (38), the owner of the pet shop in Valparai. During the investigation, Samiyappan, 30, of Angalakurichi JJ Nagar, who works in the Azhiyar forest area under the Pollachi Forest Reserve, and his co-worker, Kathavarayan (40), a temporary guard, were patrolling the dense forest of Vedikaranpallam in the Azhiyar forest last few weeks.
There, they found a dead male elephant ivory and demanded that it be sold in the black market. According to this, people from Angalakurichi J.J. Nagar, Sikander Basha (37), Sarathi (63) and Nandakumar (39) from the city were trying to sell ivory together.