GUWAHATI: In a major breakthrough, a team of Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and forest personnel from Guwahati Forest Range in Assam recovered 46 Pipli Seng (Channa barca) from a rented accommodation at Bidya Nagar in the city on Thursday afternoon.
Two persons – Sahidul Islam and Md Habibullah Haque were arrested in this connection.
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‘Pipli Cheng’ or ‘Cheng Garaka’ is the local name for the Channa barca or the Barca snakehead fish, a rare species of snakehead endemic to the upper Brahmaputra basin and Bangladesh.
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Presently, it is found in and around the Orang National Park located on the northern bank of the Brahmaputra river. It is now a rare ornamental fish and never collected in numbers.
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It is a rare, ornamental fish and is in high demand in the international market.
The Pipli Seng Fish is highly endangered and listed as a scheduled-1 species under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972.
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Any offence related to this species may attract a punishment of seven years in jail and above along with a fine.
“Based on a specific input regarding the trade of scheduled species of fish a search operation was carried out by the officials of Guwahati Forest Range and WCCB from a rented house at Bidya Nagar area at around 4 pm today,” a senior forest official said.
“They are under the custody of the forest personnel and will be produced before the court tomorrow,” he added.