Police seize deer antlers, elephant tusks

Deer and blackbuck antlers, pangolin chips and a pair of elephant tusks worth around Rs crore in the international market, which were stored in a house at Shetty Galli in the city for smuggling to foreign destinations, were seized by the police on Tuesday.

The suspect - Salim Sherkhan Soudagar alias Chamdewale, 45, a resident of Kotwal Galli - trades in domestic animal skin. He had stocked the antlers - weighing over one tonne - at his other house at Shetty Galli. The police have arrested Chamdewale.

Based on a tip-off, assistant commissioner of police Shankar Marihal, inspectors Javed Mushapuri and Advesh Gudigoppa were part of the raid party.

The antlers seized were of wildlife animals marked as protected and their poaching has been banned. It is said that the seized items were to be smuggled to China.

Range Forest Officer Srinath Kadolkar said that the smugglers ship the antlers, pangolin chips and elephant tusks to China, where they are in demand for making decorative articles and traditional medicines.

Pangolin chips are used for manufacturing bullet-proof jackets. The market police have registered a case.