Forest personnel seize pipe fish and seahorse

Acting on tipoff, a team of forest personnel, headed by a Forester, was patrolling the Pasipattinam seashore area near Thondi on Wednesday when they nabbed M. Muthuraja, 28, after finding him in possession of 107 numbers of dead pipe fish and 13 numbers of dead seahorses.

Processed seahorse and pipe fish seized in Ramanathapuram on Wednesday.

Forest personnel have seized about 79 kg of processed pipe fish and three kg of processed seahorse, the endangered species protected under Schedule I (Part 2-A) of the Wildlife Protection Act.

Acting on tipoff, a team of forest personnel, headed by a Forester, was patrolling the Pasipattinam seashore area near Thondi on Wednesday when they nabbed M. Muthuraja, 28, after finding him in possession of 107 numbers of dead pipe fish and 13 numbers of dead seahorses.

After questioning him, the forest personnel raided premises and seized the processed pipe fish and seahorse after arresting two more accused – A Sardar, 46, and S. Sakthivel, 23, S. Sathish, Forest Range Officer, said. The forest personnel also seized a van used for transporting the species for smuggling.

The accused were produced before a Magistrate court in Thiruvadanai and remanded in judicial custody, he said. The seized species would be destroyed on Thursday after obtaining court orders, he said. The special team acted based on intelligence inputs provided by Ganesalingam, Assistant Conservator of Forest, he added.