Five Arrested for Smuggling Elephant Tusks and Drugs

Kathmandu. After the agitation at the President's Office, Shital Niwas, five people have been arrested with elephant tusks looted on the 24th of Bhadra. The police have arrested five people with elephant tusks. The Kathmandu Valley Crime Investigation Office has made public five people with elephant tusks. 

Based on secret information that elephant tusks were being illegally trafficked and sold in the Manmaiju area, a police team initially took Rajiv Maharjan, 25, Tekprasad Gurung, 26, and Ayush Maharjan, 27, into custody from Tarkeshwor Municipality Ward No. 9, Manmaiju. 

During police interrogation, two elephant tusks were found buried in an empty plot of land east of Rajiv Maharjan's house. Along with this, 150 capsules of the drug Tramadol were also recovered from Rajiv's room during a search. 

During the initial investigation, it was revealed that two more elephant tusk pieces were with Puran Bohora, 24, residing in Taukhel Municipality Ward No. 2, Sapanthirth, and the police arrested him from Sapanthirth. During interrogation of Puran Bohora, he informed that he had given those tusk pieces to Santabahadur Bhujel, 20, residing in Manmaiju. 

Based on that information, during the search, two more elephant tusk pieces were recovered from Santabahadur's room in Tarkeshwor Municipality Ward No. 10, Manmaiju, wrapped in a plastic bag inside a sack. 

According to Sharad Kumar Thapa Chhetri, Information Officer and Superintendent of Police at the Crime Investigation Office, Rajiv Maharjan, Ayush Maharjan, and Tekprasad Gurung among those arrested are being investigated under the Narcotics Control Act 2033 and the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 2029.  

Similarly, Puran Bohora and Santabahadur Bhujel have been sent to the District Police Complex, Bhadrakali, and the Division Forest Office, Hattisar, Kathmandu for further investigation and action under the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act 2029.