The Chennammanakere Achukattu police on Saturday arrested three persons who were selling a pair for elephant tusks weighing a total of 27 kg. After they received a tip-off, a police team headed to 7th Cross Road, Banashankari 3rd Stage, and caught the accused with the tusks while they were waiting for a car to pick them up.
The accused Chandregowda, 46, Praveen Guled, 24, and Somalingappa Kodad, 41, are from Hassan and Haveri. “We suspect that they are part of a gang of poachers and many have killed an elephant at a reserve forest range in and around Hassan. Going by the size of the tusks, the elephant could have been 60-70 years old,” said a police officer.
The three men have been booked under various sections of the Wildlife Protection Act.
