500 Channa Barca fishes worth Rs 4.5 cr seized at Dibrugarh Airport

The smugglers intended to smuggle the fish to South East Asian countries like Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and China.

Officials of the Assam Forest Department in Dibrugarh, in an anti-smuggling operation, seized 500 Channa Barca fishes at Dibrugarh Airport today.

The value of the seized fishes are estimated at Rs 4.5 crore in the international market.

Sridhan Sarkar and Jiten Sarkar under the name of Choudhury Enterprise, Kolkata, had allegedly tried to smuggle the exotic Channa Barca fishes by an Indigo flight when a team of officials from the Dibrugarh forest department intercepted them at the Airport.

The duo had bought the fishes from various persons in rural pockets of Guijan area of Tinsukia district at a cost of Rs 400 per kg. They intended to smuggle the fish to South East Asian countries like Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia and China.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma shared the news in his official X handle. He tweeted, “In a successful anti-smuggling operation carried out by @assamforest- 500 Channa Barca fishes have been seized at Dibrugarh Airport. These rare species of fish are valued at ₹4.5 crore in the international market & is one of the biggest exotic fish seizures in recent times.”

The Barca snakehead (Channa barca) is a rare species of snakehead fish. It is endemic to the upper Brahmaputra river basin in northeastern India and Bangladesh. In 2014 it was assessed as critically endangered in Bangladesh by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).\

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