Pet shop boys nabbed with smuggled animals

By T.K.G.Kapila   

 A dealer in pet animals and two of his employees, were arrested yesterday on suspicion of keeping four pythons smuggled to the country and a crocodile endemic to Sri Lanka during a raid in Wattala. Police said the four pythons belonging to the species of Bumble Bee, Spider Caliper and Banana would have been smuggled into the country by the suspects in their bags and baggage and the crocodile captured from a lake in the dry zone. 

 Investigations revealed the main suspect was preparing to sell the pythons and the crocodile for Rs. 300,000 each.   
 The animals were to be referred to Dehiwala Zoological Gardens to obtain a report and the suspects to be produced before Wattala magistrate.