Elephant tusks seized, two arrested

The Hindu
January 17, 2007
The elephant was killed in the Adimali forest range
Thiruvananthapuram: The Forest Department confiscated a pair of elephant tusks from the house of a suspected ivory dealer here on Wednesday. Two persons, Bhaskaran, 50, of Neriyamangalam and Chandran, 48, of Adimali, were arrested in connection with the seizure.
The 2.2 kg tusks were extracted from a young male elephant killed by poachers in the Adimali forest range in Idukki district early this month, said department officials. The carcass of the five-year-old elephant with its tusks missing was sighted early this week. The kill was found deep inside the reserve forests of Parappara in the Machiplavu forest station limits in the Adimali forest range.
A team led by range officer V.G. Suresh Kumar questioned several tribal and local people living along the forest border. "An informer told us that he had seen Bhaskaran and Chandran in the forest a few times. The information led to their arrests," said Mr. Suresh Kumar. Bhaskaran and Chandran were involved in at least three elephant poaching cases registered in the State since 2000, he said.

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