(COLOMBO) – Four foreign bred pythons and a local Marsh Crocodile were recovered from a pet shop in Wattala located close to Sri Lanka’s commercial capital of Colombo, police said on Thursday.
Initial investigations have revealed that the pythons’ had been smuggled into the country by air freight or by a sea route, according to police that raided the pet shop on a tip-off.
The discovery of the pythons and the crocodile were made on the upper floor of the pet shop while the shop owner and two other employees were taken in for questioning.
Meanwhile, the Marsh Crocodile is suspected to have been captured from a lake located in a dry zone area of the country while it is believed that each reptile was to be sold for a sum of around Rs. 300,000.
Police have taken necessary steps to transfer the animals to the country’s national zoo.
An environmentalist said that both the pythons and the crocodile are protected species and that the suspects could be charged under the Fauna and Flora Act.
In mid July a Sri Lankan naval patrol stumbled on to a fishing craft that was in possession of four pythons and heading for the Sri Lankan coast.
Investigators believe that Sri Lanka is being used as a transshipment post for such reptiles to be sold later to foreign buyers for large sums of money.
The suspects were scheduled to be produced before a local Magistrate on Thursday.
