Five deadly cobras and about 500 ml of cobra venom worth around Rs two crore were recovered from a private bus that was running between Delhi and Ghaziabad on Sunday night, police said on Monday.

According to police, no arrest has been made in this connection yet, but a case against unknown persons has been registered. It is believed that the venom was being brought to the national capital to use it as drug in pubs and discotheques on Valentines Day. 

The recovery was made after an NGO tipped off Delhi Police about the illegal transport of snakes on a bus. Sourav Gupta, Animal Welfare Officer in PFA told mediapersons that he had received information that a consignment of cobra venom and cobras was coming from Rajasthan to Delhi.

“They were being brought on a bus of Rajasthan Roadways at Sarai Kale Khan ISBT. At the ISBT, these were loaded in another bus which runs between Delhi and Ghaziabad. From Sarai Kale Khan, our team chased the bus and finally managed to take over it near Vivek Vihar leading to recovery of cobras and venom,” said Gupta. Five cobras, including two live black cobras, one rat cobra and a newborn king cobra were found from inside wooden boxes kept under the seats.

The  venom is dried and ground into powder which could be highly addictive. 

“Just 10 grams of powdered cobra venom can make around 100 litres of liquor very addictive. The venom was being brought to Capital for sale at various discos and pubs during the Valentines Day,” said Gupta.

Betting racket busted

With the arrest of four persons, South District police have busted an inter-state betting racket involved in betting on the ongoing cricket match tri-series in Australia, police said on Monday.Accused Yashpal, Mukesh Kumar, Virender Kumar and Ashok Kumar, residents of Gurgaon, were arrested on Sunday night acting on a tip-off.