Snake venom worth Tk85 crore seized in Dhaka

Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) arrested five suspected smugglers with 12 pounds of snake venom worth around Tk85 crore in Rampura, in the capital, on Friday afternoon.

The arrestees were: Shafiqul Islam, Johirul Haque, Mujibur Rahman, Mokhlesur Rahman, and Dulal.

RAB 12 Deputy Director Major Moshiur Rahman said the suspects were members of international snake venom smuggling rackets.

Acting on a tip-off, a team of RAB carried out the raid in Rampura and arrested the suspects with the amount of snake venom kept in different jars, six testing kits and some other equipment.

The venom was smuggled into Bangladesh from France while the racket was planning to smuggle it out to some neighbouring countries, according to RAB.    

There might have been some rackets involved in the smuggling, Moshiur said, adding that the recently busted gang has some other members, and a move to nab them is underway.

Previously, on 25 December, six members of an international snake venom smuggling racket were arrested with Tk75 crore worth of snake venom.

The smugglers were using Bangladesh as a transit route to smuggle the venom into Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries.

Snake venom is said to be used in Asian traditional medicine.