The Q branch police detained three fishermen and seized 32 kg of sea cucumber from them on Wednesday night.
They said the fibre glass boat in which the sea cucumber was hidden was confiscated.
Later, the fishermen and the seized sea cucumber were handed over to officials of Forest Department at Vedaranyam for further action.
The three fishermen were found to have kept ready the sea cucumber, an endangered marine species, for smuggling to an undisclosed destination via sea.
The names of the fishermen were given as Sakthivel (33) of Akkaraipettai Thideer Kuppam, Sundaramurthy (38) and Ratinasamy (38) of Amirtha Nagar. All the three persons were produced before a magistrate who remanded them in judicial custody.
Forest Department officials are investigating.
