Sept. 12: CID officers arrested three men in Barasat today and seized snake venom worth Rs 100 crore from them.

The venom, stored in glass containers, was to be smuggled out of Bengal and taken to other states, a CID officer said.

"Usually venom is extracted from snakes in the dense forests of Myanmar and Thailand," the officer said.

"Then it is smuggled into Bengal via Bangladesh before being sent to other states," he said.

The three have been identified as Narayan Das, 26, of Madhyamgram, Debajyoti Bose, 43, of Tollygunge and Buddhadeb Khara, 40, of Jadavpur.

The agency's special operations group is looking for at least one more person in connection with the racket.

Forest officials were alerted and they were part of the operation, another officer said.

Snake venom is transported in transparent glass jars before being packed in wooden cartons, he said.