India: The Marine Police of the Tamil Nadu Coastal Security Group (CSG) have seized 450 kg of endangered sea cucumbers, protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act.

Led by Sub-Inspectors Balakrishnan and Rajkumar, the Marine Police personnel were on ‘Chaukas’ operation along the coastline, when they found an abandoned ‘vallam’ (country boat) in the sea, about 500 metres off Mandapam fishing jetty. It was loaded with the endangered species, packed in plastic cement bags.

Those in the boat were suspected to have jumped into the sea and escaped sensing trouble, the Marine Police said. The suspects, who acted as agents of smugglers could have procured the species from fishermen, who caught them inadvertently while fishing or were engaged in illegal fishing of sea cucumbers.

The fishermen were supposed to release the sea cucumbers, which helped in preserving marine resources, back into the sea but some fishermen sold them to the smugglers, the police said.

After bringing the sea cucumbers to the shore, the smugglers processed them by boiling and drying before smuggling them to countries such as Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. Sea cucumbers were in great demand in those countries and people consumed them for their ‘medicinal values’, the police added.

The Marine Police handed over the seized sea cucumbers, which were not alive, to Mandapam Forest Range officials, who registered a case. Range Officer S. Sathish said the boat had no registration number and the department launched an investigation to find out the owner of the boat. The seized sea cucumbers would be produced at a court on Monday and destroyed, he said

(Source: The Hindu)