Indian police have arrested two youngsters from the Indian state of Telangana for posting on Facebook a photo of themselves posing with a python in a bid to find potential customers, according to local media.
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The anti-poaching officials from the forest department of Telangana state police conducted an operation to nab the culprits and to rescue the protected animal from the social media savvy smugglers. The python in India is a Schedule-I species animal as per the Wildlife (Protection) Act of the country and under it is a protected species.
Telangana Times reported that local officials from Medchal along with the Hyderabad anti-poaching squad had devised a plan to meet the accused disguising themselves as potential buyers after receiving information that one of the two youngsters had posted pictures of himself with a snake on Facebook and WhatsApp in a bid to sell it.
The authorities went to a house in Venkatradri township of Chowdarguda village in Ghatkesar and recovered the snakes. They also arrested the youngsters.
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The racketeers had assigned one of the accused named Sharan Moses with the job of keeping the snakes safe while the second boy V Praveen, also a resident of Venkatradri township with Sharan, was tasked with finding ways through social media to reach potential customers. The two accused were popularly known as the "snake rescuers" in the area.
The two accused have been sent to judicial custody by a court.