Sangli Rural police and forest department team seized ambergris (whale vomit) worth Rs 4.5 crore from a man caught in Kasbe Digraj village in Sangli
Kolhapur: Sangli Rural police and forest department personnel seized ambergris worth Rs 4.5 crore from a man in Kasbe Digraj village on Monday evening, taking the value of whale vomit recovered in two back-to-back operations in western Maharashtra to nearly Rs 7 crore in two days. Police arrested Amol Sid, a 32-year-old from Ghunki village in Kolhapur district, after recovering two boxes containing ambergris near Green Park in Kasbe Digraj, Miraj taluka. The seizure comes days after police in Kudal, Sindhudurg district, busted an alleged ambergris smuggling racket and seized contraband worth Rs 2.4 crore, arresting four men.
Police said preliminary investigation revealed that the ambergris seized in Sangli was destined for metro markets such as Mumbai and Pune, where the rare substance fetches exorbitant prices in illegal trade. With the help of forest department personnel, it was confirmed that the substance indeed was ambergris and the accused was arrested,” said inspector Abhijit Deshmukh, of the Sangli Rural police station. A case has also been registered against a suspected supplier from Malvan in Sindhudurg district, whose whereabouts are yet to be ascertained. “When our Sangli Rural police team was on patrol duty, anmaldar Mahesh Jadhav received information that a person would arrive near Green Park with whale vomit. When our team reached the spot, the suspect, Sid, was found with two boxes of what appeared to be ambergris.
“The search for the smuggler who supplied the ambergris is on. The roots of the smuggling network will be unearthed after a thorough investigation,” he added.