Two arrested for smuggling 1 litre snake venom in Sangli

The Sangli police on Saturday claimed to have busted a snake venom smuggling racket by nabbing two people and recovering one litre of snake venom from them.

The police said snake venom is used in rave parties by junkies to get a high. They inject the snake venom, in a dilute form, in the body. A single shot of snake venom costs Rs4,000, according to sources in the police department.

The Sangli police are now probing into whether the consignment intercepted by them was meant for parties scheduled in Goa.

The police said snake venom is referred to by addicts with code names K-72 and K-76.

According to the police, the price of the one litre of snake venom in the international market is Rs1.12 crore.

The arrested persons have been identified as Chandrakant Tikar of Sangli and Abbas Hasan Mulla, a resident of Kolhapur district.

Tikar has a photo copy shop in government colony in Vishrambaug area.

Deputy superintendent of police Kavita Nerkar had got the tip-off that Abbas was to reach Tikar’s shop to sell snake venom on Friday night. While the deal was going on, a team of Sangli police raided the shop and nabbed them.Superintendent of police Dilip Sawant said, “After nabbing the duo, we verified the snake venom with the help of honorary wildlife conservators Ajit Patil and Kiran Naik and later it was sent to the laboratory in Mumbai.” Sawant added, “Usually three to four ml venom is extracted from one snake. Here we have seized one litre of snake venom that means the venom has been extracted from many snakes and the duo might have taken the help of professional snake catchers.”

“We suspect that there is a big racket of snake catchers and venom dealers operating in the area. The venom is used for intoxication particularly in rave parties where it is sold by the code names K-72, K-76. We suspect that the venom was to be smuggled to the new year parties in Goa. We are now investigating the involvement of other people in the racket,” Sawant added.