If someone was to tell you that a single fish could cost you a surprising amount of Rs 1 Lakh of your hard-earned money, you would probably not believe it.

However, in a recent update, at least 500 fishes of a rare species have been caught in Assam’s Dibrugarh Airport and are being valued at Rs 4.5 crore in the international market. This rare species of fish is known as ‘Channa Barca’.

Also known as the Barca snakehead, this species of fish is specially found in the freshwater bodies of Southeast Asia.

These fish were classified by the IUCN as Critically Endangered in Bangladesh in 2014.

According to police sources, this expensive fish was recovered from the airport in Dibrugarh. These fish were being smuggled and sent abroad.

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Police have arrested two residents of Tinsukia district of Assam named Shridhan Sarkar and Jiten Sarkar for the smuggling of these fishes. Police arrested both of them while they were on their way to boarding a flight to Kolkata.

The price of a ‘Channa’ fish in the Indian market is Rs 75-80 thousand. Its prices keep fluctuating and can sometimes also reach closer to Rs 1 lakh.

Police is currently interrogating the arrested people and took information from many people from remote villages of Tinsukia district where they got to know that the men arrested had sold this fish at the rate of Rs 400 per kg.

These fish were being smuggled to countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, China and Japan. In the local language of Assam, this fish is known as ‘Cheng’, it is also called ‘Garka’ or ‘Garka Cheng’.

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