India: Forest personnel have seized about 100 kg of processed sea cucumber, protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, after arresting three persons in Kilakarai on Friday.

Acting on intelligence reports, a team of forest personnel, led by Sikkandar Basha, Forest Range Officer, Kilakarai range, raided a residential area and found the three accused processing the banned sea cucumber.

Akbar Ali, one of the three accused arrested in the case, had twice been arrested on charges of procuring and transporting sea cucumber, Mr Basha said. The trio were produced before the Judicial Magistrate Court here and remanded to judicial custody.

Interrogation revealed that they acted as agents of people who smuggled the species to foreign countries for the perceived medicinal values. The accused had procured the species from local fishermen who caught them inadvertently while fishing and sold them to the accused.

Though the fishermen were supposed to let the sea cucumber back into the sea, some greedy fishermen make money out of it, he said. The seize sea cucumber was destroyed with court permission, he added

(Source: The Hindu)