CSG seizes one tonne of sea cucumber from Nagapattinam warehouse in Tamil Nadu

NAGAPATTINAM: Coastal Security Group on Saturday busted an illegal warehouse containing sea cucumbers near Nagapattinam and arrested three people for allegedly processing and trying to smuggle them to Sri Lanka.

The seized items, weighing about a tonne, are valued at about Rs 30 lakh and are worth several times higher abroad. The CSG received information that a large amount of sea cucumber (Kadal Attai) was stored illegally in a building at Thideerkuppam near Akkaraipettai.

An eight-member team led by ADSP J Shankar and CSG inspector R Rajasekaran raided the building and found the sea cucumber being fermented and processed. The police apprehended three people under suspicion of smuggling and processing the sea cucumber, namely S Sabarinathan (40) from Nagapattinam, K Suresh (47) from Selloor and V Selvam (50) from Akkaraipettai. The police weighed the sea cucumber and found it to be around 1000 kilos, and their worth is estimated to be around Rs 3000 per kilo.

“We learnt that the suspects were processing the sea cucumber and planning on smuggling it to Sri Lanka via boats in sea route,” Inspector R Rajasekaran told TNIE. Sea Cucumbers are marine echinoderms classified as ‘Endangered Species’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Despite being banned from catching. they often get caught as ‘bycatch’ in fishing nets.

They are often smuggled to foreign countries like Sri Lanka, where they’re in demand for alleged medicinal purposes and are sold at multiple times their price in the black market. The CSG personnel handed the sea cucumber to forest department officials in Nagapattinam, and a case was registered at the Forest Range Office in Nagapattinam under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. It is learnt that the sea cucumber would be destroyed after seeking permission from a magistrate.