Tiruppur man detained for selling tiger nails

MADURAI: The district forest officials detained a man for selling tiger nails in the city on Sunday.
J Nandhakumar, 32, of Palavanjipalayam in Tiruppur district, had put up an advertisement in internet about tiger nails for sale, said forest sources. The division officials then decided to trap him.
With the help of a secret informer, he was lured to come to Madurai and was caught red-handed while handing over the tiger nail to the informer.
Nandhakumar worked as a manager of a firm in Tiruppur. He incurred lot of debts and selling tiger nails appeared lucrative to him as he had already sold two nails for Rs 20,000 each to some parties in Bangalore, said forest officials. While trying to sell the third nail, he was trapped, said the district forest officer, Nihar Ranjan.s
Nandhakumar was booked under Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and would be remanded after interrogation, said forest officials. They are finding out where he sourced the nails from. “He was transacting wildlife products for quick money,” Ranjan said. After hours of interrogation, Nandhakumar confessed that he collected the nails from Narikuravas in Tirupati area. He bought them for Rs 1,000 each and sold them to whopping sum of Rs 20,000 each, officials said.