5 arrested after rare tokay gecko lizard, cough syrups seized in Bihar's Purnea

Tokay geckos are listed in Schedule III of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 as highly endangered.It is suspected that the accused brought the lizard from West Bengal and they were planning to take it to Delhi, said Aditya Kumar, the Sub-Divisional Police Officer SDPO of Baisi.The seized cough syrups, 50 packs, were laced with the intoxicating banned substance codeine, he said.A further investigation is underway, he added.

Five people were arrested after a rare tokay gecko lizard and intoxicating cough syrups were seized from a medical store in Bihar's Purnea district on Wednesday, police said.

Acting on a tip-off, the store in Baisi division was raided and the items were seized, said acting Superintendent of Police Surendra Kumar Saroj.

''The owner of the shop managed to flee from the spot. Based on information gathered during the search, an alleged smuggler and his four associates were arrested in the case,'' he said.

Police, however, refused to reveal the identity of those arrested.

''The grey market value of the lizard would be around Rs 1.5 crore. Forest officials were informed about it. The Forest Department will also initiate legal proceedings against the suspected smugglers,'' the officer said. Tokay geckos are listed in Schedule III of the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 as highly endangered.

It is suspected that the accused brought the lizard from West Bengal and they were planning to take it to Delhi, said Aditya Kumar, the Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) of Baisi.

The seized cough syrups, 50 packs, were laced with the intoxicating banned substance codeine, he said.

A further investigation is underway, he added.

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