Ivory smuggling racket busted in Dharmapuri, three persons held
The Hindu
An ivory smuggling racket was busted in a joint operation by the Wild Life Crime Control Bureau, Dharmapuri Forest Division and the Protection and Vigilance Wing of Forest Department here on Thursday.
An ivory smuggling racket was busted in a joint operation by the Wild Life Crime Control Bureau, Dharmapuri Forest Division and the Protection and Vigilance Wing of Forest Department here on Thursday. Three persons were arrested, while 10 others including two of the main accused and two middlemen are absconding.
The operation came into being following a tip off from the Wild Life Crime Control Bureau, regional office, Chennai, that a gang involved in ivory sale was on the move in Dharmapuri.
District Forest Officer K.V.A. Naidu told The Hindu multiple teams were deployed for patrolling at various checkpoints.
Hampi, the UNESCO-recognised historical site, was the capital of the Vijayanagara empire from 1336 to 1565. Foreign travellers from Persia, Europe and other parts of the world have chronicled the wealth of the place and the unique cultural mores of this kingdom built on the banks of the Tungabhadra river. There are fine descriptions to be found of its temples, farms, markets and trading links, remnants of which one can see in the ruins now. The Literature, architecture of this era continue inspire awe.
Unfurling the zine handed to us at the start of the walk, we use brightly-coloured markers to draw squiggly cables across the page, starting from a sepia-toned vintage photograph of the telegraph office. Iz, who goes by the pronouns they/them, explains, “This building is still standing, though it shut down in 2013,” they say, pointing out that telegraphy, which started in Bengaluru in 1854, was an instrument of colonial power and control. “The British colonised lands via telegraph cables, something known as the All Red Line.”