Forest officials seize 25 kg ivory in Mysuru; 4 held

Forest officials with the accused and seized tusks near Aranya Bhavan in Mysuru. Credit: DH Photo

Forest Department officials of the Vigilance Squad arrested four persons, including two from Kerala, and seized 25 kg of ivory in Mysuru, recently.

The accused were held while they were trying to sell four tusks of elephants, cut into eight pieces, near Bannimantap underbridge in Mysuru. They are identified as Prestin Selva and Jayaprakash of Thiruvanathapuram and Mohan and Ramesh of Udayagiri in Mysuru city.

The accused had bargained a deal to sell the ivory at Rs 20,000 per kg. While Ramesh and Mohan are ivory artists, there are pending cases against Selva in Kerala and other states.

DCF A T Poovaiah, ACF Suvarna, RFO Vivek and Mohan, Lakshmeesh, Sundar, Pramodh, Tushara, Sneha and Meghana were part of the raid.