The Special Task Force (STF) of Crime Branch on Thursday conducted a raid with the help of forest officials and seized six elephant tusks in Balangir district by arresting a wildlife criminal.
The accused, Nurin Set of Malpada village under the Malpada police station found in the possession of the elephant tusks weighing 9 kg and other incriminating materials during search. He was arrested after he could not produce any authority for possession of the wildlife products.
Later, Nurin was handed over to Balangir forest officials for necessary legal action. Further investigations are on to unearth more information.
In a special drive against wildlife trade and criminals from 2020 , the STF has seized as amny as 27 leopard skins, 24 elephant tusks, seven deer skins, 13 live pangolin, 46 parrots, 30 kg pangolin scales, two tiger teeth ,29 tiger claws and arrested 67 wildlife criminals.