400 rare sea shells seized,two held

The People For Animals Delhi along with a team of the Chandigarh Police confiscated rare sea shells worth crores of rupees from two shops in Sector 20 on Saturday evening.

The People For Animals (PFA) Delhi along with a team of the Chandigarh Police confiscated rare sea shells worth crores of rupees from two shops in Sector 20 on Saturday evening. The shells,around 400 in number,were recovered following the arrest of two persons. A case under various sections of the Wildlife Protection Act has been registered in the Sector-19 police station.

On the basis of information,the officials raided the two shops- Pawan Emporium and Rudraksh Emporium and arrested the owners Madan and Surinder Jain respectively.

The rare shells,with value of each of them ranging from several thousands to lakhs,are rarest of the rare. They are even more valuable than the elephant teeth, said Saurabh Gupta,wildlife official adding that they are investigating whether the material was smuggled to the International Trade Fair in Delhi. The official said that Maneka Gandhi tipped-off the Chandigarh Police following a joint raid was conducted.

We had made some arrests in Delhi after we got to know that the shells were sold at the Orissa and Tamil Nadu pavilion at the fair as well. The interrogation of the arrested people revealed they bought the material from Chandigarh, added Gupta.

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