The food and safety department had started the operation on Saturday, and seized 2865 kg of fish on the first day and 15641 kg fish on Monday. Tuesday’s catch takes the total amount of toxic fish seized to 35,524 kg.
Thiruvananthapuram: Amid coronavirus lockdown, the Kerala government launched Operation Sagar Rani on April 4. On April 7, simultaneous raids were conducted at 221 different locations in the state. The food and safety department seized toxic fish of around 17018 kg. Out of these, 12 selling points were issued notice ordering them to close down.
The department had started the operation on Saturday, and seized 2865 kg of fish on the first day and 15641 kg fish on Monday. Tuesday’s catch takes the total amount of toxic fish seized to 35,524 kg. Major chunk of toxic fish was seized from Aryankavu checkpost and Kureeppuzha Bypass. The fish apparently arrived from Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh, and Nagapattanam in Tamil Nadu.
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The police acted upon the information that toxic fish was arriving in the market due to lack of availability of fresh fish amid lockdown in the country. Inspections were carried out in various markets in Kerala as per the following list of centres in each district. Thiruvananthapuram - 14, Kollam - 12, Pathanamthitta - 7, Alappuzha - 8, Kottayam - 20, Idukki - 7, Ernakulam - 18, Thrissur - 23, Palakkad - 13, Malappuram - 39, Kozhikode - 41, Wayanad - 5, Kannur - 12 Kasargod - 2.