TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: Crime Branch’s claim of busting ‘pure grade’ snake venom smuggling racket on Wednesday is in doubt, as the forest department officials suspect the seized contents are possibly adulterated.
Mohammed Salim, who has already been arrested by Goa Police and their counterparts in Pune twice, was caught red-handed with 1000ml venom at Valpoi bus stand worth Rs 1 crore. CB officials claimed the liquid is a high quality poisonous substance, but this is being challenged by the forest officials.
“Venom has to be stored in freezer. If it is kept at room temperature, it loses its medicinal value. Secondly, smugglers use large quantity of jaggery syrup to mix with a few drops of pure venom. It looks original venom but, it is not,” a forest officer said.
The revelation has forced CB to send the seizure to Wildlife Institute of India in Dehradun, to ascertain its authenticity.
Police sources told Herald that Salim, who has been remanded to four days police custody on Thursday, is possibly used as a carrier to smuggle the contraband. The 30-year-old was earlier arrested by Ponda police in August 2012 and Pune CB in February 2014 along with a gang of seven persons including a Goa police constable.
Ironically, there is no clarity whether the 950ml venom seized at Ponda is pure even after two years with sources mentioning it was not sent for any tests.
“We are yet to find out who are the end users of this venom. He is just a small link in a big chain. As of now, he is not ready to disclose details of the trade or of customers,” a police officer said.
