Five kilos of pork and country-made rifle recovered

MALAPPURAM: Forest officers arrested two men for poaching wild pig in the Nilambur forest on Saturday night. Five kilos of pork and a country-made rifle were recovered from them. The others in the gang escaped on their bikes.

A patrolling team led by foresters T.J. George and P. Balan stopped and questioned a 13-member gang of youngsters near Munderi Agricultural Farm in the Vazhikkadavu range on Saturday night.

While the gang tried to flee, the forest personnel captured Subhash, 32, from Bhoothanam and Gangadharan, 34, from Wandoor. Vazhikkadavu Forest Range Officer P. Ranjith Kumar said that a search was on to nab the rest. All of them belonged to Bhoothanam, he said. They were produced before a court at Manjeri and remanded in judicial custody.

They were booked under the Wildlife Protection Act (Schedule 3). Forest officers said the gang had hunted a wild pig inside the forest and cooked the meat there itself. They were carrying the remaining meat home. Mr. Ranjit Kumar said patrolling had been intensified following the incident.