The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized organs of Bengal monitor lizards and soft corals and arrested a trafficker in Maharashtra’s Nashik district, an official said on Sunday. The DRI team from Mumbai recently seized 781 hemipenes (male sexual organs) of Bengal monitor lizard, sold as “hatha jodi” or a medicinal plant root, and 19.6 kg of soft coral, both listed under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, the official said.

Based on a tip-off, a team of DRI officers laid a trap for traffickers, who had called buyers to Nandagaon railway station in the district but kept on changing locations for nearly three hours, he said.

They finally decided to make the exchange at a remote tribal hamlet, and traffickers engaged three to four patrol groups on motorcycles to monitor the area, the official said.

When the trafficker brought the contraband for exchange, the team tried to rush in, but a patrol group on a bike intervened, and the trafficker was alerted, he said.

A group of tribals surrounded the DRI team and started pelting stones, creating a diversion for the trafficker and his associates to escape.

However, after a chase on foot, the team managed to apprehend the accused and seize the contraband, the official said.

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