Rs 100cr cobra venom seized in Jalpaiguri

Pinak Priya Bhattacharya,TNN | Sep 1, 2015, JALPAIGURI: The forest department has again made a haul of nine lbs of cobra venom worth over Rs 100 crore in international black market. 

Foresters under the leadership of Belakoba ranger Sanjay Dutta raided a house in Buniadpur in South Dinajpur and arrested two persons, Israil Haque and Amal Mondol, and also recovered a 9 mm pistol and nine rounds of cartridges from them. 

"Earlier, we had recovered 9 lbs of Cobra venom on June 27 and arrested six persons for trying to smuggle the venom. Monday's recovery and arrest are linked with the previous seizure," said Dutta. The raid was conducted with special permission from the additional principal chief conservator of forests, wildlife (north Bengal), P T Bhutia. 

Similar to the previous case, this time too, the venom was found in three containers made of bullet-proof Belgium Glass. The containers were concealed. These are said to have been collected from France. "We can tell about the smugglers' destination only after interrogating the duo," Dutta said. 

However, foresters believe that the venom was likely to be sent to China where it is used to make several medicines.