Forest cell busts gangs selling Alexandrine parakeets and erotic art made of ivory

Bengaluru

The mobile squad of the CID Forest Cell, Bengaluru, on Thursday arrested two youth selling Alexandrine parakeets on the highway in the outskirts of the city.

The accused, Rakesh Nagraj, 19, and Raghunandan Ramachandra, 22, from Lakshmipura, were caught red-handed while they were waiting for customers to sell the parakeets that were kept in a box placed on a motorcycle on Kunigal Bypass road in Nelamangala. The officials suspect that the accused are part of the inter-State wildlife smuggling racket linked to Tamil Nadu.

In another case, the squad arrested a gang of four from Rajasthan who were trying to sell erotic artwork, and jewelry made of ivory were seized from them. Based on a tip-off, a team of officials caught Lokesh Jadu, 44, and his associates Manmohan Singh Chouhan, 43, Gulabchand Prajapathi, 40, and Dinesh Bala Saheb, 34, outside KSR railway station.

Lokesh Jadu, a small-time collector of antiques, had come along with his associates from Maharashtra to Bengaluru to sell the products. The CID team recovered two erotic artworks, seven rings made of elephant tusks, and two dices carved out of elephant tusks. Lokesh Jadu told the officials that he had collected the artwork and jewels from sellers in fairs and dargahs. The accused have been booked under Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.