Three held for possessing 4 rare snakes worth Rs 5 crore

MUMBAI: The Navi Mumbai police have arrested three men for trying to sell four red sand boas, a rare species popularly known as the ‘two-headed snake’.
The accused were in the city to look for superstitious customers who believe that sand boas, if kept at home, bring prosperity, said DCP (crime) Suresh Mengade. “The men have been probably smuggling out sand boas for at least two years.The four snakes, retrieved on Wednesday, can fetch Rs 5 crore in the black market.”
Poaching and sale of red sand boas are prohibited by the Wildlife Protection Act. “Their cost varies (depending on the customer and intended use). Some buy the snakes for use in black magic, while others buy them in the believe that they have medicinal values,” said range forest officer H Ahire.
Acting on a tip off, the police laid a trap near Little Wonder mall, Kharghar. The accused, Koparkhairane resident Firoz Khan (44), Kharghar resident Rohit Mishra (23) and Uran resident Anil Jadhav (21) were caught red-handed in the parking lot opposite the mall. They told the police the snakes, which they kept in two bags, had been caught in forests in Uttar Pradesh.
“We also recovered from the men syringes and a 500ml bottle. They told us they had injected the snakes with a chemical to make them bloated and appear bigger,” said senior police inspector (crime branch) Sunil Bajare.
The rescued snakes have been handed over to the Panvel range forest office. “Boa snakes are horribly treated during Mahashivratri and Nagpanchami, when snake charmers make ‘eyes’ and a ‘mouth’ by burning holes in their tails and putting wax in the holes to claim that the snakes indeed have two heads,” said Sunish Subramanian Kunju, an animal welfare activist associated with the NGO PAWS and the Committee to Monitor Animal Welfare Laws in Maharashtra. Such activities continue unabated though torturing snakes or causing them suffering is an offence under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.