Nilagiri: Forest officials have arrested six more people in a racket involved in the manufacturing of fake ivory from the bones of dead elephants, taking the total number of arrests to 22 in Balasore district.
Acting on intelligence inputs, a team from Kuldiha Forest Division carried out a series of raids in and around Kuldiha Wildlife Sanctuary area under Nilagiri subdivision for violations of the Wildlife (Protection) Act.
Officials said the accused would exhume the buried remains of elephants after death, grind the bones and use them to make imitation tusks, which were then sold at high prices.
The operation was conducted under the direction of DFO Prafulla Kumar Mallik. ACF Shobhan Diganta Chand of Balasore and Subrat Kumar Behera, ACF (in-charge) of Kuldiha, led coordinated raids at multiple locations.
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Forest officials said 16 other accused were arrested earlier in cases related to wildlife poaching and illegal trafficking of animal body parts. The latest arrests were made during a pre-dawn raid Wednesday in Nilagiri subdivision.
The team seized 146 pangolin scales, porcupine sticks, axes, rods, explosive materials and a country-made gun from the accused persons.
All six accused were produced before a court and remanded to judicial custody.
Further investigation is underway to identify other persons linked to the racket, forest department sources said.
The case came to light December 14, when forest personnel intercepted three poachers in the Panchalingeshwar section while they were carrying carcasses of a barking deer and a porcupine.
