Gujarat forest department seizes baby crocodile

The Gujarat forest department recovered a baby crocodile from a house in the Sabarmati area here and detained two persons for allegedly breaching provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, officials said today.
"Acting on a specific tip-off, we raided a house in the Sabarmati area and seized a baby crocodile from there," a forest official said.
The officer also said that two people were nabbed in connection with illegal trading of crocodiles.
Forest officials suspect that the species were brought into the city for illegal trading.
"Through our internal intelligence network, we got information that crocodiles were brought into the city for illegal trading," the officer said.

Though seven people are allegedly involved in illegal trading baby crocodiles, five of them could not be caught, the officer said.
Sources in the forest department said that the baby crocodiles belong to 'Thai Miniature' species which fetches more than Rs 40,000 in the international market and Rs 19,000 in the local market.
Two arrested persons were identified as Hiren Patel and Regan. They were given bail by a local court on furnishing a bond of Rs 25,000 each.