21st Nov. 2018


In a joint operation, the Tamil Nadu Forest Department, wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic India and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) seized two leopard teeth and two pieces of ivory weighing 5.10 kg from two men in Coimbatore on Wednesday.

The seizure was made with members of the special team, formed to track the sellers, posing as buyers of wildlife articles. The team that trapped the accused included District Forest Officer D. Venkatesh, Assistant Conservator of Forests C. Dinesh Kumar and Range Officer (Coimbatore) S. Suresh. The seized articles were brought from Kerala and the two accused have been identified as R. Murugesh (27) from Vellakulam in Kerala and K. Prakash (32) a dealer from Kalickanaickenpalayam near Perur in Coimbatore.

Deepak Srivastava, Chief Conservator of Forest (Coimbatore Circle), who coordinated the seizure along with Traffic India and WCCB, said the seized ivory was worth around ₹10 lakh. The value of the leopard teeth was not assessed yet. 

Read full story here