Acting on a tip off, the Divisional Forest Officer, Chaibasa South, S R Natesh laid a trap and deputed an official as purchaser to strike a deal with the poachers at Chapua (Odisha) along the Odisha-Jharkhand border.
Though two persons arrived at the spot, they fled hiding the tusks in a bag in a nearby bush, Natesh said.
Forest department officials recovered the tusks from the bush, he said adding the tusks weighed 5.6 kg with an estimated worth of Rs 3 lakh in the open market.
However, the elephant's tusks were missing, he said.