After confiscating what is believed to be its largest haul of ivory, forest officials in the State are exploring legal options to bring to book the clientele of ivory products.
According to a senior official, the confiscated items will soon be brought from New Delhi and handed over to the Malayattoor forest division. It is yet to be ascertained whether the ivory, weighing 487.88 kg, had been obtained from elephants poached within Kerala. Various theories that the racket extended up to West Bengal and Myanmar are being studied.
It is learnt that the investigation team has focussed on nabbing those believed to be customers of the trade. A diary recovered from Rajan aka ‘Eagle’ Rajan, another accused, has revealed the names of several influential customers. By focusing on the clients, forest officials want to cut off the demand for ivory products. A major breakthrough was achieved in the elephant poaching case on Saturday when the wildlife enforcers seized tusks and products made of ivory such as idols, boxes and other artefacts from a house at Vijay Park in Maujpur, New Delhi. The confiscated items were found packed in 39 wooden boxes from a rented facility being used as a godown.
The raid was undertaken by a team of forest officials from the State on the basis of information obtained while interrogating Umesh Agarwal, a kingpin of ivory trade, who was arrested nearly a week ago. The operation, conducted with the assistance of the Delhi Police, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and Wildlife Trust of India, lasted for over 12 hours till midnight. The sleuths also arrested Rawat, who had allegedly assisted Agarwal in the illegal trade.
