Coast Guard confiscate 260 kg sea cucumber

Based on intelligence inputs received from local sources about an impending trans-shipment of the protected species, an interception team from the Coast Guard Station at Mandapam reached the shallow waters near Edaiyarvalasai and carried out the diving operation, an official release here said.The 11 gunny bags hidden on the seabed and containing the banned sea cucumbers were recovered during the ICG operation on May 10.

About 260 kg of sea cucumbers concealed in 11 gunny bags and kept on the seabed near the Edaiyarvalasai coast in Tamil Nadu's Ramanathapuram district were seized, the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) said on Thursday.

Sea cucumbers are single-branched marine organisms and their collection/trade is banned under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Based on intelligence inputs received from local sources about an impending trans-shipment of the protected species, an interception team from the Coast Guard Station at Mandapam reached the shallow waters near Edaiyarvalasai and carried out the diving operation, an official release here said.

The 11 gunny bags hidden on the seabed and containing the banned sea cucumbers were recovered during the ICG operation on May 10. The total value of the recovered items is estimated to be around Rs 1.2 crore.

The recovered sea cucumbers were handed over to the forest department, so that appropriate legal action could be taken against those who indulged in the collection of the protected species, the release added.