Illegal venom trade makes a killing

In February 2017, the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and Gujarat forest department officials nabbed one Amir Khan for allegedly trying to sell 80 ml of snake venom for Rs 5 lakh.

This seizure and arrest is one of many that point to the prevalence of larger rackets involved in illegally extracting and internationally trafficking snake venom. These networks, which command astronomical sums for a litre of the poison, also has links with narcotics syndicates.

Though these rackets operate under the radar of enforcement agencies and are difficult to detect, officials admit that the extent of the trade runs into crores.

"Venom is usually used as an anti-snake venom… of late we have found that snake venom is being used for narcotics and to add value to drugs like marijuana and cocaine," Dr Shekhar Kumar Niraj, Head of wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC India told DNA, adding that a litre of venom would cost "several crores" in the overseas markets.

The snakes may be caught from the wild and milked for their poison or may be reared artificially.

M Maranko, Regional Deputy Director, WCCB, Western Region, said the venom was also used for research. Snakes like cobras, Russell's vipers, pit vipers and branded kraits are mostly used for venom extraction.

"These snakes are highly poisonous and are captured from the wild and their venom is extracted two- three times before they are released," he added.

Santosh Girigosavi, Inspector, Chakan Police Station said that in the Chakan case, Kharge, who was arrested, was selling the venom to a company in Sangli district at Rs 8,000 per gram.

"There are a number of problems in the snake venom industry," admitted environmentalist Kishor Rithe of the Satpuda Foundation, adding that in the past, the state forest department had nabbed snake rescuers and charmers for being involved in the trade. He noted that while a supply of venom was necessary for manufacturing anti-venom, there was a mismatch in the demand and supply with just the state-run Haffkine institute allowed to collect and milk snakes for anti-venom. Rithe, a member of the Maharashtra State Wildlife Board, stressed on the need for the government to allow more institutes to do likewise.

Neeraj said they had evidence of the linkage of these venom smuggling rackets with Western European countries. The poison was also shipped through border states like West Bengal to Nepal and Bangladesh and further to other destinations.

Once extracted, the venom has to be stored at very low temperatures in a crystalline form, he added, stating that the number of fakes in the industry was huge.

Arrests made

Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and Gujarat forest department officials nab one Amir Khan for allegedly trying to sell 80 ml of snake venom for Rs 5 lakh.

Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) recovers a bottle of cobra venom weighing 900 grams, worth Rs 3 crore, and arrests two at Purnia in Bihar. The venom carried a 'Made in France' label and was smuggled from Bangladesh.

Pune rural police raid a house on Chakan-Talegaon road and recover 72 snakes including Russell's vipers and cobras and arrest Ranjeet Kharge and Dhananjay Bedkut under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, for allegedly selling snake venom. The police also recovered 25 mg snake venom.

State forest department arrests 11 people in Nagpur with 8mg venom and 2 snakes of which one was a cobra and the other a chameleon.