Three more persons have been arrested, including relatives of the main accused, in the case related to poaching of elephants and ivory trade. They were arrested on a tip off on horded tusks. The Forest Department also received information that the elephant hunters traded the tusks at a hotel in Kalady.
Forest officials nabbed three culprits, including relatives of the main accused Ikkara Vasu, from their house in Moovaattupuzha on the basis of revelations made by another accused who is in custody in connection with the case. The arrests were made in the early dawn on Saturday.
The arrested culprits are suspected to have stocked the tusks of the jumbos that were hunted down. The investigation team discovered that the ivory trade was being conducted at a hotel in Kalady. Traders from Thiruvananthapuram made the purchase of the ivory at the hotel. The investigation team also got details which prove that Ikkara Vasu, the main accused among the poachers’ gang, had checked in to the hotel on January 17 this year.
It was also found that ivory transaction involving hefty sums had taken place on the same day. The police got these details from one of the accused who has been arrested in connection with the case. The main accused Vasu, Eldhose, Ajeesh, are till at large.
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