The forest officials of Tiruchi range on Saturday arrested 12 belonging to Scheduled Tribes of Vannadu in Pachamalai near Thuraiyur on the charge of poaching wild boars and seized nine Single Barrel Muzzle Loaded (SBML) guns. Acting on a tip off, a team of forest officials led by Forest Ranger R. Saravanakumar surrounded them in the reserve forest area at Maniankurichi near M.R. Palayam in the wee hours when they were hunting wild boar.
All of them were subsequently arrested under Section 9 read with 51 of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 (hunting) and the Section 21 (d&h) of the Tamil Nadu Forest Act 1882 (trespassing).
The arrested were S. Jayaraman (33), M. Raju (45), P. Kumar (28), K. Gandhi (30), D. Rajini (35), R. Selvam (46), M. Singaram (46), N. Rajamanickam (46), L Radhakrishnan, P. Prakash (24), S. Senthil (24) and K. Rajendran (46).
V. Thirunavukarasu, Conservator of Forests, Tiruchi, told The Hindu that preliminary enquiry revealed that a section of them had hunted wild boar in the reserve forest areas of Thuraiyur in the recent past too. They had confessed to the crime that they hunted wild boars for cooking.
V.C. Rahul, District Forest Officer, Tiruchi, said the tribes had no license to carry the SMBL guns.
