Ramanathapuram
The marine police of the Coastal Security Group (CSG) have seized 200 kg of sea cucumber, the endangered species protected under schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, after intercepting two fishing boats and detaining 11 fishermen.
A marine police team led by Kanagaraj, Inspector of Police, and Ganesamurthy, Sub-Inspector of Police, was on a regular patrolling in the Mandapam north-sea region on a boat on Sunday, when it found two mechanised boats approaching the shoreline with the huge catch of the endangered species.
The team sailed up to three nautical miles inside the sea when it found the two fishing vessels and intercepted them, marine police said. After six fishermen in one boat and five others in another boat surrendered, the marine police detained and escorted them to the shore.
On being handed over, the Mandapam Forest Range Officer seized the two boats and arrested the 11 fishermen under the provisions of Wildlife Protection Act. The accused would be produced before the Magistrate Court and remanded in judicial custody, officials said.
Finding that the seized sea cucumbers were live, the Range officer informed the court and released them into the sea from Pamban Road Bridge in the presence of a Judicial Magistrate. Enquiries revealed that the fishermen had caught the species for selling them to smugglers, police said.
The Forest and Fisheries department officials had been advising fishermen to release the species into the sea even when they catch them inadvertently while fishing but some greedy fishermen continued to catch them illegally for smugglers to make quick money, police said.
The modus operandi was that the smugglers after buying sea cucumbers in bulk from fishermen, would process them by boiling and drying before smuggling to countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, either through Sri Lanka or directly, police said.
The species commanded a good demand in those countries as people consumed them for medicinal values, police said.
