Idukki: Forest department officials in Andipatti, Theni, arrested five men for allegedly attempting to sell elephant tusks. The accused, Bommaraj, Pandieshwaran, Mahalingam, Balaji and Eswaran, are residents of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Two tusks were seized from their possession.

Preliminary inquiry revealed the tusks belonged to a four or five-year-old elephant calf and were worth about ₹2 lakh. Authorities are probing whether the animal was killed for its tusks and in which forest area it occurred.

Officials said Bommaraj, a native of Bommarajapuram in the Meghamalai forest range, had the tusks and contacted Pandieshwaran of Kadamalakundu and Mahalingam of Mayiladumpara to arrange a sale. Acting on a tip-off, forest personnel kept him under surveillance. The trio later met Balaji and Eswaran of Bangalapatti, near Periyakulam, to finalise the deal.

Once the transaction was confirmed, forest officials carried out a swift operation, arresting all five and confiscating the tusks. The suspects were taken to the Meghamalai Forest Range Office for interrogation.

The men have been charged under the Wildlife Protection Act and produced before the Theni court, which remanded them to judicial custody.