Ooty: Five persons were arrested, and a gun, cartridges and the body of a barking deer were recovered from their vehicle near Gudalur, some 80 kilometres from Ooty today.

Based on a tip off, the forest department officials, led by Assistant Conservator of Forests, Pushpakaran, kept vigilance in the area, and noticed two cars approaching them. The officials stopped the vehicles. On searching, the officials found a country-made gun, 12 cartridges, and the body of barking deer in a vehicle.

The officials taken five persons into custody – Mohammed Rafiq and Mohammed Subain, hailing from Manjeri in Kerala, and Ramesh, Mani and Kuttan from the local area. Since the vehicles were SUVs, officials suspect that there could be more persons with them.

Further investigations are on.