Noida, Jul 28 (PTI) Two suspected members of an ivory-smuggling gang have been arrested by the Special Task Force of the Uttar Pradesh police, officials said on Friday.

The two men were held while they were carrying an elephant tusk that weighed around 1.8 kg in a car in Greater Noida on Thursday evening, they said.

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The accused, identified as Ankur Mathur and Rajat Panwar, were out to sell the elephant tusk in Delhi-NCR, the STF said.

The STF received information regarding the gang from the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, Northern Region, Government of India.

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"On Thursday, the STF Field Unit, Noida received information through an informer that members of an ivory-smuggling gang in the Delhi-NCR area are coming to sell ivory in the Bisrakh area," it said.

"An STF team, along with officials from the local Bisrakh police station, reached the place mentioned by the informer and the duo from whom the recovery was made was arrested," it added.

Mathur is a native of Ghaziabad district in Uttar Pradesh while Panwar hails from Himachal Pradesh, the STF said, adding that efforts are on to ascertain the details of their associates.

An FIR has been registered against the accused under the relevant provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Further legal proceedings in the case are being carried out by the local police station, the STF said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)