A stock of 600 kg of fully processed sea cucumber, worth Rs 12 lakh in the illegal market, has been seized from a fishing hamlet near Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu and one person arrested on the charge of stocking it with a plan to smuggle it to Sri Lanka. 

Coastal Security Group (CSG) police personnel recovered the stock from the house of one Murugan in Keechankuppam and arrested him on Saturday night, police said. 

Sea cucumbers, which play an important role in maintaining the marine ecological system, have been classified as endangered species and their harvest banned under the Wildlife Protection Act. 

However, sea cucumbers were being harvested illegally and sent to Sri Lankan and other South East Asian countries where there is huge demand for use as food and in preparing medicines, officials said.(PTI)