The Forest department personnel have arrested four persons from Tamil Nadu, who had entered the Karnataka forest by illegally crossing the Cauvery river.
The arrested are Annamalai, Ashoka, Annadorai and Perumal of Yamanuru village, in Tamil Nadu. They have been produced before the court.
They had crossed the Cauvery river coming under Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary and entered the forest. The department personnel on patrol nabbed them and found carrying pickaxes and materials for digging the soil. They confessed to have strayed into the forest to collect roots and tubers. There were several such incidents of people entering the forest to collect Makaliberu, a kind of root at Kaudalli range earlier.
The incidents which were under control for around three years have resumed, according to officials. The department has intensified the patrol.