Forest staff and  poachers exchange fire in near TN-Karnataka border, one arrested

ERODE:  Officials from forest department exchanged fire with a gang of poachers in Chennampatti forest range on the Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border on Wednesday morning. One poacher was arrested, while the rest of the gang escaped into the forest.

According to sources, forest officials received a a tip-off from tribal people that a gang was going around in the area with country-made guns, looking to hunt animals. A team led by range officer A Raja and anti-poaching guards patrolled the area and spotted the gang of five persons near Palar river around 1 am on Wednesday. The gang also saw the forest team and opened fire at them. In response, forest department fired warning shots into ground, but the gang tried to escape.

“The gang fled after forest guard for Palar P Sudhakar, fired the warning shots. Our personnel gave chase and detained D Kumar (40) of Govindappadi near Mettur in Salem. The other four escaped. They also took away the country-made gun used for hunting. No animal or meat was seized from them,” an officer from the forest department said.

“After interrogation, we will produce Kumar in Bhavani Judicial Magistrate Court. The absconders have been identified as M Raja, M Kamaraj, A Thangapal, of Mettur and R Ravi of Pennagaram in Dharmapuri. We are looking for them,” the officer added.