'Snake venom smuggler' arrested

KOUSIK SEN, TT,  Raiganj, May 23: The intelligence wing of the BSF arrested a man with suspected snake venom that would purportedly cost around Rs 12 crore from Fulbari in South Dinajpur last night.

Sudeb Tigga, a resident of Kashibati near Tapan in South Dinajpur, was brought to the BSF office in Raiganj where he was thoroughly interrogated. Two glass jars with four pounds of suspected venom were seized from him.

"Earlier also, snake venom had been seized by other agencies. It seems a racket is using the India-Bangladesh border of South Dinajpur as a route to take the item to China. If the seized item is indeed venom, we are sure it has come from France," a source said.

The BSF said it had received a tip-off and sent a person posing as a prospective customer. "Last night, when Tigga came to Fulbari with the jars, BSF officers in civvies caught him," said the source.

Tigga told the BSF that he was just a carrier and had no idea of what the jars contained. "But we are not buying his claim. He is a member of a racket," said the officer.

BSF sources said, there are four pounds of suspected venom in the two jars. "If the seized item turns out to be snake venom, as it was found in earlier cases, its price in foreign markets is about Rs 12 crore. We will send the samples to Calcutta for confirmatory tests," said a forest officer.