A flying squad of the Forest department on Sunday (August 9) arrested five men for allegedly smuggling around 12 kg of ivory. The accused were identified as Dilshad, Fareed, Vincent, Afeel and Mohammed Rifan.

According to Forest department sources, the arrests were made following a tip-off received by the Forest Intelligence Wing. The squad intercepted the five near a bridge at Kakkodi while they were allegedly on their way to sell the smuggled ivory.

A team from the Forest department’s Thamarassery range office also took part in the operation. The arrested men, who hail from Kozhikode, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram districts, had reportedly colluded with similar gangs operating in other parts of the State.