Mysore/Mysuru: The Forest Mobile Squad of Mysuru have arrested three persons for attempting to illegally sell a Brown Fish Owl, a rare species of the bird. The arrested have been identified as Kumar and Mohammad Rafi of Mandya and Rajesh of Maddur.

Acting on a tip-off, the Squad arrested the three when they were attempting to sell the rare species of the owl near Srirangapatna on Mysuru-Bengaluru Road on Friday. The scooter (KA-11 HP-2704) used for the offence has also been seized from them.

The Brown Fish Owl has been in great demand as there is a wide belief among the people that worshipping the bird at home will bring fortunes for them.

The Forest Squad has booked the three under the Wildlife Protection Act. RFO Vivek, DRFOs Mohan, Sundar, Pramod and Nagaraju and staff Ravikumar, Ravinandan, Govinda, Puttaswamy and Madhu took part in the nabbing operation, under the guidance of DCF A.T. Poovaiah.