Seven sent to forest dept custody for selling scheduled items in Guj

Vadodara, June 9 (IANS) The Vadodara Judicial Magistrate First Class on Thursday sent seven persons to one-day custody of the forest department after they were caught for illegally trading in scheduled items, including tiger nails.District Conservator of Forest, Ravirajsingh Rathod, told IANS, "On Wednesday evening, we received information that scheduled items under the Wildlife Protection Act were being sold illegally by two shops located in the Mandvi market. A team carried out a search at 'Shreenathji Shringar' and 'Saraiya Super Store' and seized the items." The forest department team has seized five tiger nails, 45 tiger claws, amber (fossilised resin), and 193 pieces of soft coral (sea fans). Some of the samples, including the tiger nails, will be sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory as well as the Wildlife Institute of India to verify their genuineness, said the officer. Rathod said that during remand, the forest department will try to extract information from the shop owners to find out from whom they were procuring these scheduled items.
--IANS haresh/arm

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