An Indian forest department seized reptile skins used to manufacture musical instruments.
Officials raided the manufacturing unit in a Mumbai suburb and confiscated 117 skins of Indian monitor lizards.
The takedown followed a tip of poached wildlife used to make a drum-like instrument called a ghumot.
A resident of the manufacturing unit, 72-year-old Bhagwan Mandalkar, was also booked under the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972.
The act protects monitor lizards and declares any trade of the animal or its body parts an offense.
Officials found the dried skins in the house and backyard and seized several ghumots.
Mandalkar said he had been committing the crime since the act’s implementation.
