In a pre-dawn operation on Sunday, Mandapam police seized 180 kg of endangered sea cucumbers, protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, after intercepting an autorickshaw, while the Forest department personnel, who gave a hot chase to another vehicle, missed their ‘target’ by a whisker.

Mandapam police were patrolling along the coastal area when they intercepted the autorickshaw, and found two persons, who were acting at the behest of smugglers, carrying sea cucumbers, freshly caught by the local fishermen.

Even before the patrol team could conduct a search, one person jumped out of the autorickshaw and escaped, while the team detained the other person, the police said. The team seized the sea cucumbers and the autorickshaw, and handed them over to Mandapam Forest Range Officer S. Sathish. Mr. Sathish identified the escaped person as Sadam alias Salim Malik and the accused as M. Sheik Abdul Kadhar (22), a differently abled person who had been arrested earlier by forest personnel on a charge of smuggling sea cucumbers. Kadhar was arrested under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1872,.

Later, acting on a tip-off, Mr. Sathish and his team tried to intercept a van, suspected to be carrying about 200 kg of sea cucumbers, but the driver drove fast.

Mr. Sathish chased the van in his SUV, and 10 Forest Guards and Anti-poaching Watchers followed him on two-wheelers. After a hot chase for about four km from Indian Coast Guard (ICG) staff quarters at Mandapam on Ramanathapuram – Rameswaram National Highway, the van entered into Vedalai village.

The forest personnel found the van parked in a street, but by that time those who were in the vehicle had shifted the sea cucumbers to some ‘safe place’. As the forest officials could not search houses without a search warrant, they returned without arresting anyone, Mr. Sathish said.