Border Security Force (BSF) officers seized snake venom worth Rs 1 crore from a private bus at Malda's Gazol on Tuesday night. The snake venom was kept in a glass jar and the jar was kept inside a bag in the bus.
The officers stopped the bus on the road at Gazol and asked the driver and his assistant to find that who was the owner of that bag. The officers opened the bag to find the glass jar full of a white semi-liquid after nobody claimed the bag.
The BSF later handed over the jar to the district Forest department officers, who later confirmed that it was snake venom kept in the glass jar.
A source in the district claimed that this was one of the major seizures in the region since 2016.
Earlier, the Forest department had arrested six persons near Siliguri and seized a consignment reportedly of 'cobra venom' valued over Rs 50 crore in international market. A few days back, the forest department had arrested four people and seized snake venom from Belakoba, a small town in Jalpaiguri Sadar sub-division of the district.
However, in Gazol, the carrier managed to flee from the spot. Acting on a tip-off, the officers stopped the bus which was plying from Balurghat to Malda. 'Made in France' was written on the jar. "We have handed over the jar to the officers of Forest department," said a BSF officer.
"The district administration of Malda, South Dinajpur received the information that some rackets have been
active in these district that smuggle snake venom," said a source.
Meanwhile, the jar of the venom would probably be sent to a laboratory in Hydrabad toascertain the type of the content.
Forest department sources indicated that a huge demand for snake venom among producers of Chinese traditional medicines is a known fact. The rare availability of snake venom has prompted an illegal trade.