The city police on Wednesday evening arrested 12 persons and seized a pair of elephant tusks from them.
Fifteen mobile phones, a car and a motorcycle used by them were also seized.
The arrested were C. Senthil Kumar (35), Sardar Basha (48), A. Mubarak (30), A. Yasin (25), K.Vetrivel (29), V. Sampath (30), A. Senthil Kumar (33), B. Rajankam (61), P. Sekar (30), K. Johnson (35), A. Chinnakannan (44) and K. Senthil (42).
Of the accused, B. Rajankam is a Sri Lankan Tamil and registered at one of the Sri Lankan refugee camps in Gummidipoondi.
Tip-off Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) R. Thirunavukkarasu told reporters that the arrest took place at Veerapandi check post here following a tip-off received from Special Task Force of the Tamil Nadu police.
Inquiries revealed that the tusks were procured by C. Senthil Kumar (35), the main accused, from Kolathur in Salem and had kept in his house at Sundamedu for the last four months, Mr. Thirunavukkarasu said.
According to the DCP, the accused were on the way to Palladam to sell the tusks to a trader. They were arrested by the city police team headed by Inspector S.P.Shanmugam. The arrested were remanded in judicial custody, the police sources said.
