Mysore/Mysuru: Cracking down on the illegal sale of elephant ivory, Forest Department officials have arrested four persons on charges of attempting to sell ivory.

The arrested have been identified as Winson of Mullur in Kollegal, Vasanth Kumar of T. Narasipur, A. Chetan Kumar of Mamballi in Yelandur taluk and A. Nithin Kumar (Balaji) of Ashokapuram in Mysuru.

Acting on a tip-off that a pair of elephant tusks was illegally stored at the residence of one of the accused, Vasanth Kumar, at Kaliyur village in T. Narasipur taluk for sale, officials of the Kollegal Wildlife Division conducted a raid and seized the ivory.

Following the seizure, Vasanth Kumar and the three other accused were arrested and produced before a Court, which remanded them to Judicial Custody.

The operation was carried out under the guidance of Chamarajanagar Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) B.S. Sripathi, Yelandur Wildlife Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF) Prakashkar Akshay Ashok and Kollegal RFO B.N. Vasu. Bailur RFO A. Pramod, DFRO Jagadish Shiroor, Amarnath Sindhihatti, Govardhan, B. Anantharamu, G.M. Bhanuprakash, J.S. Raghuram and others were part of the operation.