Arrested six people claim to be 'agents', say 'seniors' collected venom with local snake catchers' help
The six people arrested for selling snake venom illegally in Pune district have told the Pune rural police that their ‘superiors’, with the help of local snake catchers, have caught and killed thousands of snakes to collect venom in the past couple of months.
The Lonavla police claimed to have seized 1.75 litres of snake venom worth about Rs2 crore from the suspects’ possession. Cops suspect that the accused might have targeted snakes at the Western Ghats and Konkan region.
Speaking to dna, Lonavla city police station inspector Vishnu Pawar said, “Suspects confessed that their superiors have asked them to sell venom at Lonavla.
They are unaware about collection of venom and other procedures. We have sent our team outside the state to catch their superiors.”
Cops claim that the racket has been running in Maharashtra, Goa and South Indian states.”We suspect that it is a big group and they might have caught and killed thousands of snakes. The gang might also have set up a laboratory to take venom from snakes.” said a senior Pune rural police officer.
Additional superintendent of police (Pune rural) Vijaykumar Magar said, “We have sent a sample to the forensic laboratory to confirm whether it is cobra venom.”
According to Magar, the venom is mainly used for rave parties. The users add a few drops of venom in liquor and serve it at such functions. It is handy for drugs also and has a huge demand in national and international markets.
BOX
‘Only 1 gm of venom can be collected from 25 snakes’
Naturalist Neelimkumar Khaire told dna, “It is quite difficult to collect venom from a poisonous snake like cobra. It requires special technique and expertise.”
According to Khaire, 25 snakes have to be caught to collect 1 gm of venom. Regarding the 1.75 litres of venom seizure, he said prima facie it is impossible to collect such a huge amount. According to experts, Indian cobra’s venom mainly contains a powerful post-synaptic neurotoxin and cardiotoxin.
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