A week after seizing 200 kg of endangered sea cucumbers, Marine Police of Coastal Security Group (CSG) have seized 200 kg of boiled sea cucumbers, protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and detained two persons who were processing them.
A team of Marine Police personnel, led by Additional Superintendent of Police Vijaya Baskar and Inspector of Police P.S. Ramesh Kumar, was on patrolling on Tuesday on the eve of ‘Sagar Kavach,’ the comprehensive exercise to strengthen coastal security, when it found two persons processing sea cucumbers on Puliyampatti seashore in Mandapam north.
The accused — M. Sadam (26) and A. Ajmal Sha (22) — were boiling the species for processing after erecting makeshift thatched roof sheds on the seashore when the police team rounded them up and seized the species, procured by them at the behest of smugglers.
The team also seized two cooking gas cylinders, a stove and a big vessel used for boiling sea cucumbers, Mr. Ramesh Kumar said.
The accused and the endangered species were handed over to Forest Department officials, who arrested the accused under Sections 9, 39, 50 and 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act.
The two were produced before Rameswaram Magistrate Court, which remanded them in judicial custody. The seized consignment was destroyed on court orders, Forest Department sources said.
Interrogation by Marine Police revealed that the two accused had procured the species from local fishermen at the behest of smugglers, but they did not reveal the names of the smugglers. They would keep ready the processed sea cucumbers and hand them over to a contact, who visited them, they said.
This was the sixth seizure of sea cucumbers by the Marine Police since August after they stepped up the drive against smuggling of the banned species. This was the third major seizure after the police seized 200 kg of sea cucumbers on August 16 and another 200 kg on September 18.
Meanwhile, Forest Department has warned fishermen against catching the endangered species while fishing. Even if the fishermen caught them inadvertently, they should let them back into the sea, it said.
