316 conches seized from Chandni Chowk, 1 held - Naresh Kadyan

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) September 27, 2009 -- NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police on Saturday seized 316 rare species of conches, worth crores in the international market, from Chandni Chowk
following a tip-off by an Delhi based NGO. A businessman, identified as Jagmohan Lal (60), who was allegedly supplying these conches, has been arrested.

"We always knew that Lal used to smuggle and sell these conches to foreigners. So, we sent a decoy customer who looked like a foreigner. The deal was struck for Rs 50,000 and he asked her to collect the conches on Friday. We immediately alerted our raiding party and at the same time informed the police,'' said informer.
As the decoy customer was busy striking a deal with Lal, the cops apprehended him. "His questioning further revealed that he has been dealing in the illegal trade for the past few months and used to supply them to foreign tourists. On his instance, 316 conches were seized from his shop and godown in Chandni Chowk. A case under Wildlife Act has been registered at Lahori Gate police station,'' said DCP (north) Sagarpreet Hooda.

Lal was running the shop in the name of Jagmohan Exporters. "The conches, which were seized from Lal, used to be smuggled from south India and then they were sent to foreign destinations. The quality of some of these conches are better that ivory. They are covered under schedule I of the Wildlife Act for which the imprisonment is for 7 years. The bull mouth and horned-helmet conches were the most rare among the seized,'' said a police officer.

Lal told police that he used to sell these conches to foreigners to avoid police dragnet. "He avoided selling them to Indian nationals as chances of being caught by the authorities is higher. It was easier for them to smuggle these conches as authorities at the airport have little knowledge about the quality of conches and under which section they are covered,'' added the cops.

Founder chairman of the People for Animals (PFA) Haryana Naresh Kadyan, representative of the International Organization for Animal Protection - OIPA in India welcome the recovery and asked the state wildlife authorities to control Elephant abuse in the capital.