Overview
- A Directorate of Revenue Intelligence operation targeted a suspected ivory-dealing network in Mysuru and led to the recovery of elephant tusks during a raid that followed intelligence-led enquiries on Tuesday.
- Officials handed the seized tusks and detained suspects to the Mysuru Territorial Forest Division for formal action and case registration under the Wildlife (Protection) Act.
- Reports differ on key details with the DRI Mumbai unit reporting 4.058 kg seized and three arrests while local coverage and the Forest Department say three tusk pieces were found and four people were later detained.
- Local reporting says undercover DRI officers posed as buyers to confirm the contraband and that officers are interrogating suspects as forest and central agencies work to trace the supply chain and identify buyers.
- The case leans on forensic work—weight, measurements and ageing of the ivory—to prove provenance and link seizures to poaching or wider smuggling networks in order to secure prosecutions.