The Bengaluru City Police busted an ivory-smuggling racket on Wednesday and arrested six men in connection with it, in a secret operation. Khader Basha, the leader of the gang, who is believed to be a DMK functionary, was also arrested.
Acting on a tip-off about elephant tusks being sold on Kempegowda Layout Ring Road, a team of four police officers launched an operation and raided the place. The police posed as prospective clients and approached the men who were selling the tusks. Two men- Prakash who hails from Dharmapuri and Naveen from Krishnagiri districts- were arrested and four tusks were recovered from them.
Further interrogation of the arrested men led to the capture of four more persons in possession of tusks. Khader Basha, Javed Bin Nus, Sabari Nathan and Sathish Kumar were arrested by the police and eight more tusks were recovered. Khader Basha, who is believed to be a DMK functionary, was taken into custody from his house in Anchetty village in Krishnagiri district.
Reports say that Khader Basha had mobilised DMK party workers in his hometown to block the police from arresting him. The police then had to take the help of their Tamil Nadu counterparts who dispersed the crowd and helped them take Basha into custody.
The accused were booked under the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and various sections of the IPC and Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).
Speaking to TNM, Police inspector BN Lohith, who was a part of the team which launched the secret operation, said, “We arrested 6 men of which 3 have been remanded to judicial custody and 3 are in police custody. We are looking for the poachers, who helped these men to lay their hands on ivory tusks. The investigation is also going on meanwhile.”