Smuggled cobra venom seized, five arrested

Rab personnel seized 6 jars of cobra venom worth around Tk 69 crore from a hotel in Joypurhat town on Friday night and arrested five people. Photo: Star

Members of Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) arrested five people and seized 12 pounds of cobra venom in Joypurhat town on Friday night.

Being tipped-off, a team of Rab-5 in Joypurhat raided a room of Hotel Boishakhi, a residential hotel in the town, around 8:30pm and arrested two people along with 12 pounds of snake venom, said Major Abdur Rahim, commanding officer (CO) of Rab-5, at a press conference around 11:30am.

Later, the elite force members detained three other members of the gang, following information given by the two arrestees during primary interrogation.

The estimated value of the seized venom would be around Tk 69 crore, said the CO. The venom was prepared by Red Dragon, a company in France and smuggled through Indian border, he added.

The arrestees are-- Mozammal Haque, son of Idris Ali, and Enamul Haque, son of Abdul Wahab of Khetlal upazila of Joypurhat, Sohag Hossain, son of Belal Uddin of Sapahar upazila in Naogaon, Motaleb Hossain, son of Moinuddin of Melandaha upazila in Jamalpur, and Morshed Ali, son of Golzar Hossain of Faridpur upazila of Pabna district.

Earlier, on August 23, members of Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) arrested a youth along with six jars of cobra venom worth Tk 100 crore from Benapole border area in Jessore.