Nagpur, Sep 13: A joint team of wildlife and territorial wing officials on Wednesday arrested 10 persons here for selling snake venom illegally worth lakhs of rupees.
The joint team seized 8ml of cobra venom, estimated to be worth Rs 8 lakh. The officials also seized seven live cobras, one chameleon and one grass snake, besides six motorcycles and 14 mobiles from the accused.
The accused had printed visiting cards with their pictures displaying snakes and contact numbers and distributed them to residents in large numbers.
People used to call these sarpa mitras for rescuing snakes. The accused used to keep snakes at home and extract their venom.
