Tiger and python skins seized in Erode

TNN | Apr 17, 2012, 06.02AM IST COIMBATORE: Three people were arrested by forest officials at Kanchikovil near Perundurai in Erode district late on Sunday night while trying to smuggle tiger and python skins said to worth about Rs 4 crore. Forest officials began conducting a check of vehicles in the area following information from Chennai that some people were attempting to sell skins of protected wild animals and reptiles, Erode forest conservator D Arun told TOI. A special team comprising assistant conservator of forest D Chandran and range forest officer K Ravichandran checked a vehicle on the Erode-Coimbatore Highway and interrogated those travelling in it. The officials seized tiger and python skins from a bag kept inside the vehicle. The arrested have been identified as L Ashwin (22), a resident of Chennai, and Vincent Babu Raj (47) and Balamurugan(35), both from Tirupur. The arrested were produced on Monday in a Perundurai court which remanded them in judicial custody. The forest department officials have sent the seized skins to a laboratory in Chennai. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/coimbatore/Tiger-and-python-skins-seized-in-Erode/articleshow/12698113.cms