Pune: Elephant ivory tusks worth Rs 3.5 crores seized from smugglers

NPnews24 Online Pune: The officials from Dattawadi police station under Pune city police on Wednesday arrested four persons and claimed to have seized two elephant ivory tusks worth Rs 3.5 crores in the international market.

The arrested accused have been identified as Aditya Sandip Khandge (19) of Dehuphata, Hrishikesh Harishchandra Gaikwad (28) of Wakad, Aniket Chandrakant Ashtekar (26) of Ahmednagar and Ashok Amit Piska (28) of Samalwada, Ahmednagar.

After getting tip-off that the smugglers would arrive at PL Deshpande garden on Sinhgad road, a team led by senior police inspector Devidas Ghogre, in-charge of Dattawadi police station, PSI Kuldip Sankpal laid a trap and nabbed them.

The two tusks were kept in a sack. One of them is 33 cm long and weighs 886 grams and the other one is 35 cm long and weighs 998 gm. The forest department officials also accompanied police to check the tusks.

Now cops are investigating who provided these four persons, the elephant tusks.