Pair of elephant tusks seized in Ennore, four detained

CHENNAI: A pair of elephant tusks weighing 15 kg was seized from suspected smugglers at Ennore on Tuesday. Four suspects have been detained in the connection.
A police team intercepted a bike-borne duo on suspicion during night patrol around Poonamallee on Monday. On questioning, police found Vasanth, 28, of Porur, and Rajkumar, 25, of Tirukazhukundram, were found to be involved in several burglary and extortion cases in Porur and Thirukazhukundram areas.

During the course of interrogations, police seized their mobile phones and found photos of ivory in them. The two confessed that they received the photos from Praveen Kumar of Ennore, who acted as a mediator to sell the ivory for a good price.

Based on Praveen’s inputs, police raided a house in Ennore that belonged to Chinraj and seized the ivory which was concealed in his pooja room. “Chinraj did not name any particular person. He said he bought the pair from unidentified people, including a woman from Anna Nagar, two years ago,” said an investigating officer.

“As he couldn’t find a customer to buy the ivories, he kept it in his pooja hall superstitiously believing that it would bring him good fortunes,” said the officer.

While the Poonamallee police remanded Rajkumar and Vasanth in judicial custody, Praveenkumar and Chinraj were handed over to forest officials of Tiruvallur district for further investigation. Police said the forest officials will further probe the case.

Police suspect that the arrested people might have international links as it would fetch huge money. Though the sale of ivory is banned in the country, it is estimated that one kg of ivory costs Rs 75,000. The forest officials are of the view that an interstate racket could be involved and further investigation will help identify the source of the tusks.