7 arrested for planning to illegally sell elephant tusks

New Delhi: In a major crackdown, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) Chennai unit has arrested 7 persons planning to illegally sell elephant tusks covered under Schedule I of the Wild Life Protection Act, the officials informed on Monday.

Based on specific intelligence received by DRI Chennai that a few persons are planning to illegally sell elephant tusks, surveillance was mounted and officers intercepted 7 persons including the owner of the contraband. The 7 persons appeared to have committed the offence under WPA 2023 as they did not have licit documents, the officials confirmed.

As per the latest amendment to the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 which became operational on April 1, 2023, officers of Customs are authorised to seize any offending contraband under Section 50 (1)(c) of the WPA 2023. As authorisation to file a cognisable complaint under Section 55 of WPA in Tamil Nadu is available only for forest officers, the seized contraband, the vehicle used for the offence and the offenders have been handed over to the chief wildlife warden, TN for further action.

This is the first-of-its-kind case where DRI had done a domestic wildlife case using the

new powers given to customs officers in the latest Wild Life Protection Act, 2023, the DRI officials added.