Tusks seized at valparai
The Forests Department has seized two elephant tusks from a man near a tea estate at Valparai and apprehended three persons.Conservator of Forests and Field Director of Anamalai Tiger Reserve S. Basavaraju ordered special patrolling following a tip-off that tusks were being smuggled out of the Valparai area.
During patrolling at the Waverly Junction, Forest Ranger M. Lakshmanaswamy, Forester P. Mohammed Ali and Forest Guard A. Abdul Sattar found C. Jayakumar (36) waiting there with a sack.They opened the sack to find two tusks, one measuring 110 cm and another 108 cm.On being questioned, Jayakumar, who was a temporary driver in a tea estate, said that he had got the tusks from two workers of the estate, S. Ramu (30) and S. Nagarajan (40).
The workers said they found the tusks in the forests while on a search for honey.They brought the tusks to the estate and hid these among tea bushes.They asked Jayakumar to sell these in Pollachi. Jayakumar, however, was caught while heading for Pollachi to sell the tusks.
