Dibrugarh, Dec 21 (PTI) Assam forest department officials have seized over 500 'Channa Barca' fish valued at Rs 4.5 crore from Dibrugarh airport while being smuggled to Kolkata on Thursday, a forest official said.

Acting on a tip-off, forest personnel seized the consignment of the endangered fish locally known as 'Cheng garka' and apprehended the vehicle's driver who had brought it to the airport, divisional forest officer BV Sandeep said.

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'Channa Barca' fish falls under the protected category, listed in Schedule 2 of the Wildlife Protection Act.

It is a rare species of snakehead fish, endemic to the Upper Brahmaputra river basin in northeastern India and Bangladesh.

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In 2014, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) had assessed the fish as critically endangered in Bangladesh.

The seized fish will be released back into the river, Sandeep added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)