BENGALURU: Personnel of the Railway Protection Force (RPF) seized three exotic species at Sir M Visvesvaraya Terminal (SMVT) in Baiyappanahalli on Tuesday.
They were found inside cardboard boxes on Platform 4. They were possibly trafficked to be sold in the local pet market.
RPF sources told The New Indian Express that a Savannah monitor lizard, a corn snake and a ball python, all worth Rs 1 lakh were seized. This is the first wildlife seizure at SMVT after its inauguration in June 2022.
During routine checks, RPF personnel found three cardboard boxes lying in front of A1 coach of Guwahati-SMVT Express (Train no. 12510). “They opened one of them and found a lizard inside a steel cage. They immediately took the cardboard boxes to the RPF post at Baiyappanahalli. On opening them, they found the exotic creatures. A member of a wildlife rescue team was summoned to identify the creatures,” a top official said.
Wildlife expert Thirumalesh identified them. They have been handed over to the range forest office at Yelahanka, he said.
In 2023, two deer antlers were seized at SMVT.
The Savannah monitor lizard is found in Africa and it is popular in the local pet market. Corn snake, also known as red rat snake, is a non-venomous snake found in the US. Ball python, known as Royal python, is native to West and Central Africa. It curls into a ball when it feels threatened.
Sources said efforts were on to trace those who had abandoned the cardboard boxes containing exotic species at SMVT.