Exotic poisonous snakes seized from woman train passenger

Jamshedpur: A woman passenger onboard a Delhi-bound train was detained at Tatanagar railway station here after Railway Protection Force seized exotic breeds of poisonous snakes, lizards and insects from her possession, an RPF official said on Monday.

Acting on a rip-off, the RPF personnel conducted a search in the general compartment of the Delhi-bound Neelanchal Express on Sunday night and seized the snakes, lizards, and insects stuffed in plastic bags.

The official said 29 snakes of the foreign breed were seized and a Google search revealed that three of them are valued at Rs 25 crore each in the international market. The cost of the seized lizards was found to be in the range of Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000.

He said the Pune-based 52-year-old woman procured the reptiles, lizards, and insects from Nagaland. She then travelled to Dimapur, from where she reached Hijli near Kharagpur to catch the train to Delhi, the RPF official said. A snake expert was called to confirm whether the snakes were poisonous and on affirmation, all of them along with the lizards were handed over to the forest department.

Interrogation of the woman is on, the official said adding it is suspected that there are other persons involved in the illegal trade.