Sulthan Bathery: Forest Department personnel took into custody two members of a poaching gang who had been absconding after cases were registered against them in several poaching incidents in Beenachi Estate, under the Irulam Forest Station limits in the Chethalath Forest Range of the South Wayanad Forest Division, a Forest Department communiqué said here on Friday.

The accused, Variyath Parambil Biju VP (45) and his brother Variyath Parambil Vineesh VP (40), surrendered before the Judicial First-Class Magistrate Court-I, Sulthan Bathery, on Friday morning. They were later handed over to the Forest Department, as the department had sought the custody of the accused for further investigation.

A Forest Department team led by Chethalath Forest Range Officer M K Rajeev Kumar took the duo into custody and gathered evidence from the hunting site in the forest area of Beenachi Estate, as well as from their houses. The accused are allegedly members of a notorious gang engaged in hunting wildlife on a regular basis and selling the meat to a network of customers. They had escaped when the Forest Department team surrounded them during a hunting expedition on February 8 earlier this year.

Two other accused, Madhu O B, a native of Ambalappadi, and Aneesh A, had been arrested earlier. The Forest Department team had also seized the meat of a porcupine hunted by the gang on that day. A fully loaded country-made gun, a headlight used for hunting, knives, and ammunition were also recovered.

The Forest Department team included Irulam Forest Station Deputy Forest Range Officer K P Abdul Gafoor, Section Forest Officer P V Sunderesan, and Beat Forest Officers Ajeesh P S, Vineesh Kumar N V, and Soumya B.

The accused, who were handed over to custody for one day for evidence gathering, were produced again before the court (JFCM-I) in the evening and remanded to judicial custody for 14 days, officials said.