Bengal monitor lizards, soft corals seized near Nasik
A group of tribals surrounded the DRI team and started pelting stones, creating a diversion for the trafficker and his associates to escape
Acting on intelligence, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) Mumbai officers on Saturday seized 781 Bengal Monitor Lizard Hemipenes (Hatha Jodi) and 19.6 kg Soft Corals (Indrajaal) from a wildlife trafficking gang near Nasik.
The DRI stated that the extremely cautious trafficker initially called the buyers, who were closely monitored by the DRI team, to Nandgaon railway station (Nashik district), but kept changing locations for nearly 3 hours before deciding to exchange at a tribal village with tricky terrain consisting of thorny scrubland with no scope for four-wheeler movement.
A group of tribals surrounded the DRI team and started pelting stones, creating a diversion for the trafficker and his associates to escape.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the trafficker and his companions attempted to flee with the contraband.
However, the officers pursued them on foot for more than half a kilometre across rugged terrain, apprehending the trafficker and recovering 781 Hatha Jodis and 19.6 kg of soft corals specified under Schedule-I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972.
