NEW INDIAN EXPRESS (Chennai, India) 23 October 13 Gang dealing with snake venom busted: Six arrested
In a major haul, forest sleuths seized at least 600 ml of snake venom and arrested six persons from a City hotel in an undercover operation late on Monday.
The value of the venom, claimed to be that of a cobra, could run into lakhs of rupees in illegal trade circuit.
The accused, most of them from Bihar, had arrived in the Capital on Monday and checked in to a hotel in Old Station Bazar. The City Forest Division, which has been keeping surveillance on the traders for about three months, sent in a decoy to strike a deal with the traders. Once the forest officials ascertained that they were in possession of the venom, a raid was conducted.
This is, probably, the first instance of snake venom seizure in the State. Snake venom, in its unadulterated form, sells at about `1 crore per kg in illegal market. The six wanted to sell the 600 ml for about Rs 1 lakh.
According to DFO of City Forest Division Jayanta Das, the six claimed to have collected the venom from snake catchers belonging to Tatanagar. They were identified as Dhirendra Kumar, Dharmendra Kumar, Bhrugunath Singh, Shankar Kumar, Om Prakash Kumar and Pawan Kumar Singh. Apart from Bhrugunath, who is from West Bengal’s Bardhaman, the rest are from Bihar.
“Since we had intel inputs about the trade, we were keeping a tab on them for about three months and a half,” he said. A team comprising Range Officers Ashok Mishra, B C Behera and Girish Satpathy raided the hotel, arrested the six and took custody of the venom.
The venom was deposited with a local court on Tuesday, when the accused were produced.
Samples will be drawn and sent to Mumbai for testing the quality and purity.
Forest officials said the value of the venom could run into several lakhs of rupees though it depends on quality as well as end-users. While haemotoxins are used for anti-venom preparation, neurotoxins are in demand from drug addicts. Earlier this year, a raid in Delhi had yielded close to 285 gm of cobra venom and its value was estimated at Rs 1 crore.
Illegal collection of snake venom could mean killing hundreds of snakes in the process since the reptiles generate the toxins in extremely small amounts and it also depends on their size, age and species.
The six accused were found to be educated. Dhirendra Kumar also worked as a security officer with NTPC in the past.
The DFO said the court has been requested not to grant bail to the accused till investigation in the case is complete.
Link