BENGALURU: RMC Yard police on Thursday seized 142 tiger and leopard claws and arrested three men possessing the contraband.Acting on a tip-off, plainclothesmen zeroed in on the accused when they were standing at the flower market in Yeshwantpur and recovered the claws they were carrying in their bags.During interrogation, P Kavitkumar, 23, R Gopiraj alias Gopi, 25, and N Sanjay, 21, all residents of Shikaripura village, in Nagamangala, Mandya district, confessed that they were in the city looking for potential buyers for the claws.“They claimed to have purchased the claws from a poacher in Pakshirajapuram of Hunsur taluk. We will send a team to nab the poacher,” said police.Police have contacted forest officials to verify the quality of the claws seized. “Many times, miscreants bring fake claws and try to sell them saying they are of tigers and leopards. Once forest officials recognise whether these claws are original or not, we will decide the future course of action,” said RMC Yard police.Police are also checking the antecedents of the accused trio. “We strongly suspect them to be experienced hands in dealing with such goods. Preliminary investigations revealed that a close relative of Kavitkumar was arrested in 2013 for illegally possessing ivory tusks. However, he was acquitted by the court due to lack of evidence,” said investigating officers.

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