Endangered species
Law & Order
Nishantha Abeygunawardena Badulla Corr. and C. Gamage
Soranathota group corr.
Badulla SSP Sujith Wedamulla inspecting a haul of swallows’ nests worth Rs 1 million seized in Badulla on Wednesday. Picture by Nishantha Abeygunawardena
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The Crime Investigation Unit of the Badulla Division on Wednesday (15) arrested two persons with swallows’ nests worth Rs 1 million to be sold to tourists hotels in Badulla.
The suspects had 2.5 kgs of the nests of Hill Swallows, an endangered species in Sri Lanka, and were attempting to sell them at Rs 400,000 a kilogram to tourists hotels.
The birds’ nests are believed to have been collected from the railway tunnels in Badulla.
Police revealed that there is an errant business to procure at exorbitant prices, the edible nests of this species of birds that is protected and preserved under the Fauna and Flora Act of Sri Lanka, to the tourist hotels, especially for making soups.
Police also said that these illegal traders are taking the extra step to even smuggle them for overseas hotels as well. The two suspects aged 41 years and 47 were arrested near the Badulupitiya Playground in Badulla. The two are residents of the Soranathota and Amunuwelpitiya areas. One of the suspects is a carpenter. Police in plain clothes had met the suspects, on a tip-off, purportedly to buy the nests and arrested the two when they attempted to sell the nests which were concealed in a travelling bag.
Hill Swallows’ nests are among the most expensive animal products consumed by humans, with nests being sold at prices up to about (US$ 6,600 per kg).
A group of Police led by IP Abeypala are continues investigations on the instructions of Badulla SSP Sujith Wedamulla.
Friday, June 17, 2022 – 01:00
