Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Feb 23: The policemen, acting on reliable information, arrested three persons who were trying to sell a litre of snake poison stored in two bottles, from a place in the town late evening on Saturday February 21. The venom seized is said to be worth about Rs 80 lac in the international market.

Nizamuddin (38) from Hubli Gopankoppa, Ravindra (45) from Sirsi and Prakash B M (42) from Sagar were arrested from near Adi Udupi Market by the local circle inspector Ganesh M Hegde, Malpe station sub-inspector of police Dejappa and other police personnel, informed district superintendent of police Madhukar Pawar, at a press conference held here on Sunday. The arrested have been booked under Wildlife Protection Act.

At the time of the raid, there were four persons. Manmath Kumar from Sagar ran away towards Madhwanagar and gave a slip to the police party. The arrested accused claim that the poison was handed over to them by Manmath Kumar and Rafique from Sagar. The policemen have been trying to locate these two persons and arrest them.

While Manmath is said to be involved with the collection of poison, Rafique is reportedly involved with its marketing. It is learnt, that the accused visited the coastal region several times in the past for selling the poison but returned empty-handed as they were unable to get the price they wanted. The policemen had made efforts to nab them in the past, but the men had succeeded in evading the arrest, the SP said.

The SP has announced cash reward of Rs 2,000 and exemplary service certificates to the members of the police team which succeeded in unearthing the illegal racket of such a high value. Additional SP Kashinath S Talakeri and circle inspector Ganesh Hegde were present at the press conference.

It may be noted, snake poison is used for making the anti-dote for the snake-bite, by injecting it in small quantities to horses and extracting anti-dotes from their blood. In some foreign countries, it is also used to get a 'kick' by mixing small amounts of the poison to intoxicating drinks.  Extraction of poison amounts to violence against wild life, as it hurts the serpents a lot unless done by experts under laboratory conditions. Citizens are not permitted to extract this poison.