TIRUCHY: Air Intelligence Unit of Customs on Thursday seized 211 sea cucumbers in Tiruchy International Airport from a Malaysian passenger. Sources said that this was the first sea cucumber smuggling attempt in Tiruchy as the endangered species was smuggled through the sea and in coastal areas such as Ramanathapuram, Nagapattinam and Thoothukudi.
Asaph Ahamed (49), a resident of Ramanathapuram, tried to smuggle sea cucumbers in food packets to Malaysia. He and the species were handed over to the forest department. “The export of these endangered species is prohibited under the Customs Act 1962.
The Wild Life Protection Act 1972 has listed the species under Schedule - I. So, we had handed over the species and the passenger to the forest department,” said officials. However, sources said that the Chennai airport had also reported such cases.
“We had caught Scheduled-I species like sea horses and sea cucumber in the airport. But, these kinds of marine species are smuggled mostly through sea,” sources added.
According to sources, this endangered species is used as a delicacy in several Asian countries and it is sold at a very high price in China, Malaysia and Singapore.