COIMBATORE: A 40-year-old man part of a five-member gang of poachers was arrested by the Forest Department after exchange of gunfire in Erode early on Wednesday.

Acting on a tip, a team of Forest Department staff spotted the poachers near Palar River on Tamil Nadu-Karnataka border in Chennampatti Forest Range at around 12.50 am.

On seeing the Forest staff, the poachers opened fire with their country-made guns.

In retaliation, P Sudhakar, a forester, opened fire with a 410 musket rifle. Then the staff managed to nab T Kumar (40) from Mettur in Salem, while four others identified as Karavadayan alias Raja (42), M Kamaraj (40), A Pachakannan alias Thangapal (42), all hailing from Salem and R Ravi (45) from Pennagaram in Dharmapuri managed to escape. Efforts were on to nab them.

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