BHUBANESWAR: The Special Task Force (STF) of Odisha police on Wednesday arrested a person on charges of possessing an elephant tusk in Angul.
Acting on a tip-off, the STF officials with the help of forest personnel arrested Sudar Naik and seized an elephant tusk from him during the raid at Antulia village within Angul forest division.
The accused could not produce any documents supporting the possession of wildlife items. He was remanded to judicial custody under sections 379/411 of Indian Penal Code and section-51 of Wildlife Protection Act.
The seized elephant tusk will be sent to Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, for chemical examination, said STF DIG JN Pankaj. The STF through its special drive against wildlife criminals has confiscated 10 elephant tusks so far. Besides, 18 leopard skins, two deer skins, five live pangolins, and 15 kg pangolin scales have been seized in the last one year and 37 offenders taken into custody.