Two arrested with elephant tusks in Delhi
The arrested accused were identified as Savita Devi, 42, a resident of Bahadurgarh, and Mohit Sharma, 24, a resident of Sangam Vihar
The Delhi Police has arrested two people from Dhaula Kuan with two elephant tusks — the trade of which is banned under national and international law — weighing 1.8kg, officers aware of the case said on Monday.
Deputy commissioner of police (southwest) Rohit Meena identified the arrested accused as Savita Devi, 42, a resident of Bahadurgarh, and Mohit Sharma, 24, a resident of Sangam Vihar.
Officers said the police received information about a gang dealing in ivory from elephant tusks, and were looking for suspects for the past six months. Earlier this month, officers said, they received information that two people who were carrying elephant ivory were coming to Dhaula Kuan.
“The two were apprehended on Friday and two elephant ivory were recovered from them” said a senior police officer.
A team of the forest and wildlife department was then called to inspect the seized tusks, and based on their complaint, a first information report under various sections of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 was registered at the Delhi Cantonment police station on Friday.
Deputy range officer (west) from Wild Life Department Tandon, who was part of the team, said trading of wildlife trophies, including tusks, animal skulls and other body parts, is strictly prohibited under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
“The two ivory elephants tusks weighed around 1.8 kgs in total and since elephants are schedule 1 species and protected under the Wildlife Protection Act, we asked the police to lodge an FIR under the act,” he said.
The police officer quoted above said the two were produced before court, and their custody was sought to “investigate the chain of source and receiver of the ivory”.
The case comes a week after a 32-year-old Canadian tourist was caught at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport by security personnel on August 2 after she was found carrying horns of an unidentified animal she said she found in Ladakh. The forest department was called in to action on that instance too, and an FIR was lodged under the Wildlife Protection Act.
“The horns are suspected to belong to a native yak or bull. These are schedule 2 species and protected under the Wildlife Act,” an official had said.