UP STF nabs 2 with 1.8-kg elephant tusk

Noida, July 28

Two suspected members of an ivory-smuggling gang have been arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of the Uttar Pradesh police, officials said today.

As per the officials, the two men were held while they were carrying an elephant tusk that weighed around 1.8 kg in a car in Greater Noida on Thursday evening. The suspects, identified as Ankur Mathur and Rajat Panwar, were out to sell the elephant tusk in Delhi-NCR, the STF said.

The STF received information regarding the gang from the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, Northern Region, Government of India.

“On Thursday, the STF field unit, Noida, received information that members of an ivory-smuggling gang in the Delhi-NCR area were coming to sell ivory in the Bisrakh area,” the STF said.

“An STF team, along with officials from the local Bisrakh police station, reached the mentioned place and arrested the duo and recovered the tusk,” it added.

Mathur is a native of Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, while Panwar hails from Himachal Pradesh, the STF said, adding that efforts were on to ascertain the details of their associates.

An FIR has been registered against the suspects under the relevant provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Further legal proceedings in the case are being carried out by the local police station, the STF said.