Baripada: A joint team of police and forest officials seized two elephant tusks and arrested four persons in connection with the poaching of a tusker at Talabandha wildlife range under the North Division of Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR) in Mayurbhanj district, late Saturday night. A case was registered in this connection under relevant sections of the Wildlife Act and further investigation is on. The accused were identified as Gobinda Hembram, Kunasingh Naik, Ramrai Tudu, and Kuna Naik. The two tusks weighing around 40 kg were seized from the possession of the accused poachers. This was stated here by Sai Kiran, deputy director of Similipal Tiger Reserve, North Division, Sunday. The breakthrough came during a late-night raid by Bisoi police and forest officials at Rugudidihi, Matiani, and Talakabadi villages.
During the raid, the joint team seized two tusks and arrested four persons on the charge of poaching from Rugudidihi and Talakabadi villages. One of the tusks was seized from the haystack of prime accused Gobinda Hembram and another was exhumed from the farmland of another accused in Matiani village. The senior official said that the poachers had killed the elephant and removed its tusks. Over 50 personnel were involved in the operation.
All the accused were nabbed after the joint team got information that the poachers were planning to strike a deal for the tusks. One of the accused had kept the tusk hidden under the ground on farmland in the backyard of his house.
Sources said that a detailed probe will be carried out to ascertain the involvement of the poachers in other wildlife crimes. Further, their linkages with other gangs involved in the illegal wildlife trade will also be investigated.
Notably, the decomposed carcass of the elephant without its tusks was recovered from the Talabandha wildlife range of Similipal Tiger Reserve, January 21. Earlier, several Forest department officials of Jenabil range under STR south were arrested on the charge of destroying evidence by burning the carcass of an elephant under Gurandi beat in December 2022.
