The police on Tuesday night nabbed three youth of Pudupattu village in Karvetinagaram mandal and seized a sand boa snake from their possession.
According to the police, acting on a tip-off, a special party raided an isolated location near Pudupattu, where the trio was waiting for a client. On seeing the police approaching them, the youth reportedly tried to give them a slip, but were overpowered and nabbed. A snake hidden in a plastic drum was seized.
The police later handed over the snake to the forest department personnel at Karvetinagaram, who later released it into the forest at Tana.
During interrogation, it was found that the youth, identified as Dharma (20), Mani (30) and Seethan (28), were involved in smuggling sand boa snakes found in the forests of Karvetinagaram, Vedurukuppam, S.R. Puram and Puttur mandals to clients in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
A case was registered under Wildlife (Protection) Act, and the accused were produced before the local court at Puttur on Wednesday morning and were remanded.
