One person has been held and four others are being questioned in connection with a case relating to a trade in tusks.
Speaking to The Hindu here on Tuesday the District Forest Officer, the Nilgiris North S. Ramasubramaniam said that following a tip-off that an attempt was being made by a six member gang to sell a pair of tusks removed from an elephant which had been killed at Sirumugai, a special team headed by Assistant Conservator of Forests Jayaraj had been formed to nab the culprits.
It had arrested Sampath of Lingapuram near Sirumugai at Kunjapanai on the Mettupalayam-Kotagiri highway and recovered the tusks. The tusks were taken to Longwood Shola near Kotagiri where an inspection was carried out by the Conservator of Forests V.T. Kandhaswamy.
Four others were picked up in Coimbatore by the District Forest Officer Thirunavakarasu.
