India: Acting on a tip-off, the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau along with a team from the Sila range in North Guwahati has seized three Tokay Geckos, worth Rs 14 lakh, and apprehended a smuggler on Friday near Changsari.

As reported, the smugglers brought the reptiles in the market to auction them. The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau officers reached the spot and recovered the geckos and apprehended one Dandi Kalita. Kalita is now being interrogated.

It may be mentioned that the Tokay gecko is a nocturnal arboreal gecko in the genus Gekko, the true geckos. It has high demand in international markets and is being caught and trafficked from mostly the Northeastern states to Southeast Asian countries. It is said that medicines made from gecko meat can cure diseases such as HIV, cancer and so on.

Last year, the Nagaon police had busted a major racket of gecko smugglers and 53 Tokay geckos.

(Source: The Time 8)