Seven poachers with modern hunting gear arrested by forest officials from Chitradurga

CHITRDURGA: Seven poachers were arrested by the forest department officials along with vehicles, arms and ammunition used to hunt wildlife at Hiriyur on Monday.

Based on a tipoff,  forest department officials conducted a raid and arrested the gang. This team was involved in poaching wild animals in and around the forests of the Chitradurga district.

Among the seven people arrested, four are hunters and three are drivers. All of them have been sent to judicial custody for 14 days.

Honorary wildlife warden HG Raghuram, range forest officer Sriharsha, DRFO Pradeep Kesari and team took part in the operation. CCF Lingaraju and DFO Chandrashekhar Nayak congratulated the team of the forest officials who arrested this team.

Vehicles seized

The forest officials seized three vehicles -- Two Mahindra Thars and one Mahindra Scorpio -- from the accused. They also seized a good quantity of ammunition, four guns, pistol and other equipment used for hunting.

The arrested people are from Shivamogga and Bengaluru.