DHAKA, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Twelve pounds of cobra venom worth 450 million taka (about 5.48 million U.S. dollars) in the international market had been seized and one person arrested in the Bangladesh capital, a police official said on Wednesday.
Acting on a tip-off, a police team arrested Md Solaiman Azad, 61, Tuesday night in Dhaka's Dhanmondi area and recovered from him six sealed glass containers containing cobra venom weighing 12 pounds, a Dhaka Metropolitan Police official told Xinhua.
The official, who did not like to be named, said the seized venom is worth 450 million taka in international black market and was likely to be sent to a foreign country.
Officials said organized gangs of local smugglers having link with their foreign sidekicks are increasingly using Bangladesh as a route for the illegal transportation of cobra venom.
