Chennai, Jul 25 (IANS): Tamil Nadu forest officials have arrested three people including a minor boy for poaching and selling elephant tusks in Erode. The forest officials acted on a tip-off after the officials in the Kadambur forest range found that tusks were missing from the carcass of a wild elephant that was found dead On June 21 in the forest area.

The accused who were arrested on Sunday evening are K. Sadaiyappan (45), P. Sengottayan (41), and a 17-year-old boy, all from Athiyur Puthur in the Sathyamangalam Forest range.

The trio revealed that they had entered the forest range in Kadambur and poured acid into the carcass of the elephant and removed the tusks.

A forest official with the Kadambur forest range told IANS that they are probing the people who have bought the tusks from the trio and are on the trail of the middlemen who had connected the buyers with the sellers.

While the two men were remanded in judicial custody, the 17-year-old boy was sent to the observation home at Erode.