Two held for smuggling elephant tusk in Greater Noida

According to the STF, the personnel received an intelligence input from the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, Northern Region, regarding the ivory smuggling gang

The special task force of the Uttar Pradesh Police on Thursday evening arrested two people from Greater Noida’s Chipiyana village for allegedly smuggling elephant tusk weighing 1.8 kilograms in a car, said senior officers on Friday.

The two suspects were identified as Ankur Mathur (30), a resident of Crossings Republik, and Rajat Panwar (27), a native of Solan, Himachal Pradesh. (Representative Image)

Under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, elephant tusk and the sale of ivory produce are banned in India. According to the STF, the personnel received an intelligence input from the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, Northern Region, regarding the ivory smuggling gang.

“Working on the input, the Noida field unit of STF received information on Thursday evening that the suspects are coming to sell ivory in the Bisrakh area of Greater Noida. Acting on this, an STF team along with personnel from the local Bisarkh police station reached the spot in Chipiyana village mentioned by the informer,” it said.

The team saw two people standing next to a maroon Honda city and one of them had a laptop bag with him as specified by the informer. “Police personnel went to the two suspects and asked to open and display the laptop bag. Upon checking, an elephant tusk weighing 1.8 kilos was found in the bag. They were also asked to show papers of the car but were unable to and were immediately taken into custody,” said the STF.

The two suspects were identified as Ankur Mathur (30), a resident of Crossings Republik, and Rajat Panwar (27), a native of Solan, Himachal Pradesh. “Upon interrogation, the suspects revealed that they had come to Greater Noida to finalise a deal to sell the tusk. Panwar revealed that he works as a driver in Solan where he met another taxi driver Arvind. The tusk was given to Arvind by his friend Pooran, a resident of Shimla,” stated the official note from STF.

It further stated that the tusk was given to Panwar and Arvind by Puran to be sold in NCR, and Arvind asked his old friend Mathur to accompany Panwar on his task.

When questioned, Mathur and Panwar did not know where the tusk was procured from. “They said Pooran knew the source of the tusk. An FIR was registered under provisions of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and relevant Indian Penal Code sections against Mathur, Panwar, Arvind and Pooran. Efforts are on to find the other associates,” said the statement.