The Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary officials on Monday arrested four alleged poachers near Sathanur in Ramanagaram district and seized two country-made guns and ammunitions from them.
The suspects entered the Cauvery wildlife sanctuary, which is rich in flora and fauna, recently and they were detected by the camera-traps installed at several places in Sathanur forest range in Kanakapura taluk, K.V. Vasantha Reddy, Deputy Conservator of Forests (Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary), told The Hindu .
Based on the images, the Forest and Police officials conducted a special drive and arrested the accused near Muggur forest area on Monday, the officer said.
The arrested are Ravikumar (20), Basavalinga (50), Mutturaj (40) and Mutthuraj Appajigowda (25).
Their associate Bairaiah (60) managed to escape. All the five are residents of Nallahalli in Kanakapura taluk and habitual poachers, the officer said.
The Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary, spread over 1,027 sq km, is prone to poaching. Therefore, the forest department has installed cameras at 20 places to monitor the movements of animals/ alleged forest goods smugglers and poachers.
The department has also installed closed circuit television cameras at various places and formed three special patrolling teams, Mr. Reddy told this correspondent.
The Ramanagaram police said the arrested persons are being interrogated and a search has been launched for the escaped suspect.
