Rourkela: Forest officials have seized elephant tusks before being smuggled out of Odisha and arrested 11 persons in this connection in Sundargarh district.
Following reliable information that some people had gathered in the house of poacher in Banagaon village under Rourkela forest division to smuggle the elephant tusks, a special team was formed to apprehend them, sources said.
On the direction of assistant conservator of forest Soumya Ranjan Gochhayat, the team conducted a raid on the house of Rameswar Nayak in the village on Thursday.
During the raid, the Forest officials seized two elephant tusks weighing around 3 kg. They also arrested 11 persons from the house.
Further investigation is going on to ascertain involvement of other people in smuggling of the tusks and the prospective buyers of wildlife materials, said the forest official.
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