Marine Police of Coastal Security Group (CSG) have seized 25 kg of endangered sea cucumbers, protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and detained a person who was carrying them to supply them to smugglers.
Acting on a tip-off, a special team, led by Inspector of Police P.S. Ramesh Kumar, launched an operation in coastal Tirupalaikudi area and detained K. Kaliappan (55), who was in possession of processed sea cucumbers.
Kaliappan was handed over to Forest Department, and Range Officer S. Ganesalingam arrested him under Sections 9, 39, 50 and 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act. He was produced before a Magistrate Court here and remanded in judicial custody. After obtaining court order, the forest officials destroyed the seized sea cucumbers.
ADVERTISEMENT
Sub-Inspector of Police G. Ayyanar, who was part of the special team, said Kaliappan had procured the sea cucumbers from local fishermen, who inadvertently caught them while fishing.
The accused told the police that he had no direct contact with smugglers and someone would visit his house to buy the sea cucumbers. The accused had been in the illegal business for quite sometime and this was the first time he was arrested, the police said.
As fishing of sea cucumbers was banned in the country, the forest and fisheries department officials advised fishermen to let the sea cucumbers back into the sea when they caught them inadvertently. However, some fishermen sold them to smugglers to make quick money. The sea cucumbers, believed to have medicinal values, were smuggled to Malaysia, Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries, the police said.
ADVERTISEMENT