Thrissur: Poaching of elephants is rife in forests in south India. A Thiruvananthapuram-based racket involved in the poaching of elephants for ivory has been taking its loot by train to Kolkata's Shalimar and New Market areas and smuggling them out to Nepal, it is learnt.
The hunters rely on trains for smuggling the tusk. Cabins under the seats of railway staff is a safe place. The storage spaces in trains are also used to hide the contraband.
Eighteen elephants have been victims of the poaching gang in Kerala forests alone in the past three years. Their crime also covered areas like the Mysore division in Karnataka, and the Erode division in Tamil Nadu, from where they have taken away ivory worth crores by train to Shalimar.
The forest department is aware of the Thiruvananthapuram gang that 'exports' the ivory from southern states, but inquiries on the crime often stopped with middlemen. Poaching in Kerala has come down after the Idamalayar jumbo slaughter racket was exposed, but forest department documents have proof that the hunters are indeed active.
The department has information that a group of 30 sculptors in Shalimar and New Market are crafting the looted ivory at a hideout. The gang then smuggles the ivory sculptures to Nepal, where they fetch three times the price of the raw material.
Middlemen pay Rs 40,000 to 45,000 per kg to those who slaughter wild elephants and hand over the tusk. The loot gets Rs75,000 per kg in Kolkata. Once it becomes a finished art work, the price shoots up to Rs 1.25 lakh.
