Nepalese man held with snake venom worth over Rs 1 crore

Amitava Banerjee | MP | 22 February 2019 | Darjeeling: The Sashashtra Seema Bal (SSB) apprehended a Nepalese citizen trying to sneak in a jar of crystallised snake venom from the country worth more than Rs 1 crore. The person has been arrested and later remanded to two days police custody by a Siliguri Court.

The incident occurred on Thursday evening at Panitanki, the Indo-Nepal border near Siliguri. Troopers of the 41 Battalion of SSB were manning the Border OutPost when they saw the person acting suspiciously. He had crossed over from Nepal.

He was then questioned by the SSB and then frisked. A bag was then recovered from the man, identified as 49-year-old Bal Bahadur Yava. Inside the bag they found a jar of snake venom. He is a resident of Jhapa, Nepal. Later, Yava was handed over to the police at Khoribari police station.

Booked under Section 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act, he was produced at the ACJM Court in Siliguri on Friday. "His bail prayer was rejected and he has been remanded to two days police custody," stated Sudip Rai Basunia, Assistant Public Prosecutor, Siliguri.

The bullet-proof glass jar bore labels of Red Dragon (the name of the company) and Made in France. The jar is being sent to Haffkine Institute, Mumbai for tests.

It may be mentioned that since 2015, multiple jars of snake venom have been recovered from this region.