A joint team of the Special Task Force (STF) of the Crime Branch, Khordha police and forest officials has busted an inter-State wildlife racket allegedly involved in elephant killings in the State with arrest of the kingpin of the racket in Khordha district.
The arrested accused was identified as Razak Khan, a resident of Anantapalli village under Bolagarh block in Khordha district. He was arrested from Parimula under the Begunia police station on Thursday night.
Khan is accused of killing over a dozen elephants in Odisha and other States including Assam and Chhattisgarh.
The police team which was on the trail of the notorious poacher, also seized a large number of tusks from Parimula area where he was nabbed as well as during search of his residence, sources said.
According to reports, Razak was frequently changing his locations to elude the police dragnet.
Sources said he was frequently changing locations from Begunia, Bolagarh, Banki, Tangi, Tikatal and Deuli in past four days. During interrogation, he admitted to have killed 16 elephants in Odisha.
Following his arrest, he was handed over to the forest officials to get unearth more information about the racket.
Based on the revelations following his interrogation, a hunt is on to nab his 14 associates allegedly involved in elephant poaching.