Elephant tusks, endangered Indian star tortoises seized

Madikeri: Two elephant tusks have been seized by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) Police Forest Cell at Madikeri yesterday. The tusks were in the possession of Mahadevaswamy, G. Guru and P. Hemanth Raj.

The accused were attempting to sell the tusks and the forest team raided their location, at a bus shelter near Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa College based on a tip-off.

In another incident, also reported yesterday, two Indian star tortoises were seized from Suresh and Saravanan. They were attempting to sell the endangered tortoises at a bus shelter near Kannanda Padebeera Circle.

Indian star tortoises are endangered animals and they are illegally kept as pets, across homes as it is believed to bring good luck. It is also perceived to have medicinal value. Due to the extremely high demand for Indian star tortoises, they continue to be smuggled. Sub-Inspector C.U. Savi, Head Constables Shekar, Rajesh, Raghavendra, Yogesh, Mohan and Constable Manjunath were part of the raiding team.