UDUPI: The Forest CID team nabbed two people here on Sunday evening while they were attempting to sell an elephant tusk, allegedly worth Rs 75,000. The accused Poonacha of Bollumadu village, a writer in the coffee estate and K M Ganesh, a jeweller from Virajpet, were planning to sell the tusk to a jeweller in Shivamogga.
Based on reliable information, the CID team decided to trap them and conducted a decoy operation. They approached the duo as a prospective buyer and collected all the information regarding the deal. The team finally arrested them and seized the tusk which weighed two-and-half kilograms. Forest department estimated that the seized tusk was valued at Rs 75,000.
The accused were produced before the Principal Munsiff court and the magistrate sent them into judicial custody. The forest official said a 1 kg of ivory — the elephant tusk — is priced at Rs 25,000 per kg in the Indian market and `35,000 per kg in the international market.