The 63rd battalion — a reserve battalion of Siliguri Frontier currently deployed at Barasat — in a joint operation with personnel of Forest Office Barasat and Police Narco cell of Kolkata nabbed the accused on Wednesday.
The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) nabbed three people and seized three jars of cobra venom worth Rs 100 crore at Barasat, a suburb in the outskirts of Kolkata in West Bengal.
The 63rd battalion — a reserve battalion of Siliguri Frontier currently deployed at Barasat — in a joint operation with personnel of Forest Office Barasat and Police Narco cell of Kolkata nabbed the accused on Wednesday.
"On specific information, trap was laid out and the accused were nabbed from Tegharia bus stand," a senior SSB officer said adding that the seized three jars of cobra venom have the venom in liquid, crystal and powder form.
"This cobra venom is very much in demand in China for medicine purpose, especially for radio therapy, cancer treatment, and for maddening drugs," the officer said.
The three jars used to stock and carry the venom were found to be made in France.
The arrested have been identified as Narayan Das (26), a resident of Madhygram in North 24 Pargana, Debojyoti Bose (43), resident of Tollygunj in Kolkata, and Buddhadev Khanna (40), a resident of Jadavpur in Kolkata.
The venom was meant to be smuggled to China through Siliguri corridor. The arrested three are part of an international gang of smugglers. "The forest department has taken possession of the venom," the SSB officer stated.
The nabbed accused were handed over to local police for further probe into the matter but during initial investigation, it was found that they has been in smuggling snake venom for last three years and they are just a middlemen.
The officer also stated that during initial interrogation, the three accused stated that two years ago a consignment of Cobra's venom was being sent through sea route however it looted by Bangladeshi sea pirates somewhere in Bay of Bengal and consignment was brought to Bangladesh. Now, smuggler of Bangladesh are heavily into smuggling Cobra's venom as there is very much in demand in China.
In May this year, SSB and the customs department had also carried out a major operation in Siliguri resulting in the arrest of two people and seizure of venom worth of Rs 70 crore.
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