Snake venom worth Tk9 crore seized, two smugglers held

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) has arrested two smugglers and seized snake venom worth Tk9 crore from Gazipur on Wednesday night.

The two arrestees were identified as Mamun Talukder and Md Mamun.

Sheikh Md Rezaul Haider, an additional deputy inspector general of CID, revealed the information at a press briefing at the CID office in the capital on Thursday.

"We conducted a drive in the district on 17 November and detained a snake venom smuggler. A case was filed against him. After interrogating him, we came to know about another such smuggling ring," said the additional deputy inspector general of CID.  

Based on the tip-off, CID teams conducted a drive in Kaliakair upazila of Gazipur on Wednesday night and nabbed the two smugglers with six bottles of snake venom.

Sheikh Md Rezaul Haider said, "The smugglers brought the snake venom from abroad, but we are not sure about the source country." 

"They wanted to smuggle the venom to Malaysia or Indonesia," he added, 

He further said there is a demand for venom, which is used for producing medicines, in international market.

"However, it is not used in the pharmaceuticals in Bangladesh. The smugglers brought it without a letter of credit and 'Made in France' was written on the containers," added the CID official.