Cops bust antique racket, recover 7.5 kgs of ivory artefacts; 6 held

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru:

With the arrest of six people, the city police on Friday claimed to have busted an antique smuggling racket here with the seizure of 7.5 kilograms of 21 artefacts made of ancient ivory. The arrested accused were identified as Himmat Singh hailing from Haryana, Praveen Sambiyal from Punjab, Abdul Kayoom and Mohammad Rafeeq from Mysuru, Mohammad Israr and Amjad Pasha from Bengaluru.

According to the police, the accused were arrested in Bengaluru while waiting in a car for their prospective customers. “The articles were carved out of ancient ivory from elephants, the prices of which cannot be easily evaluated in terms of money,” the police said.

The antique articles include a knife with an ivory handle, door handles of different designs, statues of elephants, walking sticks, 20 erotic art works based on the Kamasutra and another amber art piece with a scorpion embossed on it. The case is being investigated by Bengaluru City Central Crime Branch (CCB) Women Protection Wing. The Bengaluru Police Commissioner Pratap Reddy has appreciated the efforts of the police in detaining the gang. Further investigation is on.