Four arrested with 20 kg ivory

India: Periya Range forest officials have arrested four persons from Mananthavady for keeping in their possession elephant tusks weighing 20kg and trying to sell them. The arrested are Vinod,30, Raghavan,39, Raju,34, and Gopi, 38 -- all from Kattiyeri Colony. The forest officials had found a one-and-a-half-year-old carcass of an elephant inside the Peria forest four months ago. But the tusks were missing from the body. “Only the tribal people who collect honey enter this part of the forest. So, we conducted a search concentrating the tribal people and finally, nabbed these persons,” said M K Rajivkumar, Peria Range Forest Officer. According to the statements of the accused, the trio collected both the ivory from the carcass of a tusker one year ago.

(Source: The New Indian Express)