RAJKOT: A man from Khambhaliya town of Devbhumi Dwarka district was arrested with 830g of whale vomit estimated to be worth Rs 1 crore.
Sale of sperm whale puke is deemed as illegal under the Wildlife Protection Act. It is mostly used in the fragrance industry to make perfumes as well as making aphrodisiacs.
The arrested person Bhaveshgiri Goswami, 32, was caught from Patel Colony in Jamnagar following specific information about his location. Police got information that he had come to sell whale vomit.
The seized material was sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory for further investigation.
"We are yet to lodge an FIR and invoke the relevant sections against the arrested man. We will do this after the FSL report," said sources in the B-division police station.
Special Operations Group (SOG) inspector SS Ninama said that Goswami had confessed to getting the whale vomit from the sea coast.
Also called ambergris, the vomit is a waxy substance that comes out of the sperm whale's digestive system. It's valued at anything from Rs 1 crore to Rs 2 crore per kilogramme depending on its purity. The trade and possession of ambergris is banned in India and many other countries as well.
