BHUBANESWAR: The Special Task Force (STF) of the Crime Branch on Friday arrested three miscreants from Jajpur district for wildlife trafficking and seized three elephant tusks from them. On a tip-off, the sleuths raided Kabatabandha Square near Brahmani bridge and apprehended Pitabas Barik and Ananda Mahakud of Keonjhar district along with Ambuja Pradhan of Jajpur.
"A case has been registered under Sections 379 and 411 of IPC and Section 51 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act. The seized elephant tusks will be sent to Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun for further examination," said a senior STF officer. Barik, Mahakud and Pradhan were produced before JMFC court in Chandikhol later in the day.
The accused will be brought on remand to verify where the elephants were killed and their links with other criminals.Sources said India does not have a huge market for elephant tusks. Suspecting that the tusks are being smuggled to other countries, STF officers are verifying possible links of the wildlife criminals nabbed in the last six days with local and international smuggling rackets.
The sleuths had received an information about a planned wildlife deal after which they conducted a surprise raid near Keonjhar RTO on February 7 and apprehended Sheikh Hasmati Ali and Chandrakant Dhal of Karanjia along with Malaya Kumar Rout of Keonjhar district's Janghira. STF officers requested the court to grant them a seven-day police remand of two accused including Ali but they were allowed three-day remand for questioning the duo.
Sources said the STF, DFOs of Mayurbhanj and Keonjhar are questioning Ali and another accused whose police remand started on Thursday. Ali allegedly has links with some wildlife criminals in Kolkata as well as in Nepal. Police suspect that the elephant was probably killed in Mayurbhanj or Keonjhar and efforts are being made to ascertain all the links of the illegal trade.