Sleuths of the City Crime Investigation Bureau and Forest Department raided a house and seized a huge stock of antlers, scales of pangolin, and a pair of elephant tusks in Shettigalli under the Market Police Station limits on Tuesday afternoon.
The seized stock, said to be around one tonne, is worth crores of rupees in the international trade, the police said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Amarnath Reddy told The Hindu that based on a tip-off, they raided the house and also arrested Salim Soudagar alias Chamadewala (45), a resident of Kotwal galli.
The accused, who is a traditional leather trader, claimed that the antlers, pangolin scales, and tusks had been stored over several years. At times, these products are sold to buyers in Hyderabad and Mumbai, he told the police. But the police said there were no documents to support his claims.
Mr. Reddy said a case has been registered under the Wildlife Protection Act. He said antlers and pangolin scales have substantial demand in China and Vietnam. The pangolin scales were in demand for their medicinal properties as well as to manufacture bullet-proof jackets. However, it was too early to establish an international trade link, he said.
Meanwhile, the forest officials said the seized articles were old and accumulated over the years. They did not rule out the possibility of poaching in the Western Ghats on the western side of Belagavi district, where these animals were in substantial numbers. Some of them could have been collected from the forests as antelopes regularly shed antlers once a year, they said.
Mr. Reddy said the raid was conducted by ACP Shankar Marial, Inspectors Adivesh Gudigeppa and Javed Musapure and Range Forest Officer Srinath M. Kadolkar and their staff. He said once the investigation was completed, the stock would disposed of with due permission from the court.
