A special team of forest officials arrested four persons and seized ivory pieces, skin of wild animals and three antlers during a raid at Chathrapatti in Oddanchatram Forest Range on Sunday.
The arrested have been named as Palani of Pethanaickanpatti, Nagarajan of Kudiraiyaru, Ramasamy of Gurumalai and Murugan of Amaravathi.
Skins of a panther skin, three antlers and an old spotted deer rug and two ivory pieces were seized from them, officials said.
Addressing reporters, District Forest Officer D. Venkatesh said the team had received a tip-off that Palani had put up these items for sale.
During preliminary investigation, the team, led by Oddanchatram Forest Ranger Senthil Kumar, found that Palani had stocked the items in different places in the forest areas. He handed over some of the items to Ramasamy Murugan and Nagarajan for selling them. The team arrested all the accused and seized the items with the help of Traffic India and PHCC, Mr. Venkatesh said.
The arrested were produced before the Oddanchatram Magistrate Court and remanded in judicial custody. On June 18, a forest team seized a taxidermy tiger rug from a four-member gang near Sempatti in Kannivadi Forest Range.
