The former minister and another, who came forward to claim the large pair of elephant tusks, which were seized by Police along with a suspect while he was trying to sell them for Rs. five million recently failed to identify, that the tusks were theirs yesterday (27) at the Morawaka Magistrate’s Court.
With the story about the tusks circulating in the media, two parties had come forward claiming them.
Former Minister Gamini Lokuge, had given a statement to the Police that he suspected that it was his own and that it had been stolen when the activists attacked and set fire to his house on May 9. He had also told Police that it was given to him by a relative when he went abroad. Meanwhile, a person called Nihal Perera, had given a statement to the Police that this pair of tusks may be his and it was in the custody of a close relative of his from the Deegala Walawwa in Akuressa and it had gone missing. Both parties appeared in Court, where they declared that the two tusks were not theirs as there was no recognizable marks. A 43-year-old man was arrested recently with the pair of tusks from a temple in Akuressa while he was trying to sell them.