Chennai: Customs officials with Chennai airport on Wednesday arrested a passenger for possessing 6.3 kg of dried seahorses, a schedule one protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.
The arrested Sahul Hameed, was found moving suspiciously with his baggage. When enquired, the accused claimed that he was carrying homemade Indian snacks such as seedai and murukku to Singapore, but when the baggage was screened, the officials noticed an unusual style of packing with hundreds of seahorses that have been processed and dried, airport sources said.
After a registering a case, the accused and seized seahorses were handed over to the wildlife crime bureau for further investigations. Preliminary investigations revealed that Hameed has been influenced by Ramnad-based traders to carry the consignment to Singapore.
Those in the illegal trade spend around Rs 20,000 to purchase a kilo of dried seahorse and when smuggled into international markets, they are sold for above Rs 5 lakh per kg, informed sources investigating the case told DC adding that possession of schedule one animal is a non-bailable offence.
The seahorse and sea cucumber are collected from coastal southern Tamil Nadu and are smuggled to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand where the protected wildlife is consumed as aphrodisiac, sources said.
