Three men were arrested for allegedly smuggling and attempting to sell 2.5 kg of Pangolin scales near the Coimbatore Railway Station on Monday.
They were identified as T. Bhagyaraj alias Arumugam, J. Chinnadurai and K. Manickam.
The Forest Department officials, posing as potential buyers, offered the men Rs. 1 lakh for around 2.5 kg of the contraband, and asked them to bring the scales to the railway station, where the officials arrested them.
Chinnadurai told the officials that he had received the pangolin scales from a farmer.
He claimed to have been a middleman for the illegal trade in the parts of the wild animal.
The officials learnt that the animals were hunted from near Karamadai and near Pilloor dam.
