Ambergris worth 7 crore seized, four men arrested

Kolhapur:A team of the Sindhudurg forest department seized ambergris (whale vomit) weighing 9.12 kg worth Rs7 crore from Shiroda area of Vengurle tehsil in Sindhudurg district on Thursday.Four local suspects who were trying to sell the ambergris illegally were caught red-handed along with the seized goods. A case was registered against them by the forest department.As per the information received from the Sindhudurg forest department, confidential information was received that some people in the Shiroda area were secretly selling ambergris. Based on this information, a search operation was launched on Thursday.Sachin Shidture, range forest officer, said, "After receiving a tip-off that whale vomit was being sold illegally, we team members approached the suspects by posing as fake customers and set a trap. As soon as the suspects arrived with the goods on Thursday late night as planned, the team arrested the four of them. The ambergris was seized from them."Ranjit Ramchandra Nair (40, resident of Parabgaon Shiroda), Gurunath Naik (70, resident of Parabgaon Shiroda), Vibhav Adarkar (35, resident of Shiroda, taluka Vengurla), and Nilesh Manohar Panji (33, resident of Redi, taluka Vengurla), all from Sindhudurg district, were arrested. All four have been booked under the Indian Forest Act and the State Forest Act.Whale vomit weighing over 9kg was seized from the suspects. Its value in the international market is estimated at Rs7 crore."Ambergris is used in expensive perfumes and medicines. As it fetches a price as high as gold in the international market, such crimes are increasing due to the greed for money," added Shidture.