Last Updated on 29/07/2024 by Ankita Jain
A major case of elephant tusk smuggling has come to light in Uttarakhand. The Special Task Force (STF) and the Forest Department team have arrested three members of an interstate gang and recovered two elephant tusks from them. The STF and the Forest Department have intensified action against those involved in illegal smuggling of wildlife organs in Uttarakhand.
This is how ivory smugglers were caught
According to the news agency report, STF Senior Superintendent of Police Ayush Aggarwal said that these suspected smugglers have been arrested in a joint operation with the Central Forest Division Rudrapur and Shyampur Police of Haridwar district.
He said the arrested persons have been identified as Gautam Singh and Chandan Singh, residents of Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh, while another accused is a resident of Shyampur in Haridwar named Jitendra Saini.
He further said that these accused were smuggling wildlife organs in Haridwar area for a long time, about which STF had received input. After this, the STF team took action secretly and caught the accused. These smugglers were caught by the police when they had set out to sell the ivory to some outside party.
The recovered ivory weighed 7 kg
Giving information about this case, the STF SP said that the weight of both the teeth recovered from the suspected smugglers was seven kilos. He said that earlier Gautam Singh was arrested on charges of murder and Jitendra Saini was arrested under the Forest Act. The STF chief further said that the accused are being interrogated and efforts are being made to find out when and in which forest they hunted the elephant.