GAYAJI, Feb. 5 -- The Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP), in a joint operation to combat the smuggling of wildlife, forest products and contraband through railway networks, on Tuesday night recovered a Red Sand Boa snake that is believed to be sold for exorbitant prices. The rail police also arrested two wildlife smugglers who had brought the rare snake from Prayagraj on Howrah-Jodhpur Superfast Express and had to deliver it to someone in Gaya Ji, officials said. A joint team under RPF inspector Banarasi Yadav and inspector Chandan Kumar of GRP were patrolling platform number 1B when they noticed two suspicious persons carrying a sky-blue bag. As soon as they suspected the police keeping an eye on them, they attempted to flee but the police chased and nabbed them. The bag was opened and an approximately 4-feet-long dead Red Sand Boa snake was found in it. The men were identified as Mohammad Sadullah (46) of Amraha village in Chakand and Upendra Kumar (28) of Siripr village in Jehanabad district. A case under sections 2,9,39, 40(2), 50, 51, 58 A and 59 of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 was registered and the smugglers were arrested. The sized snake was handed over to a forest department team, inspector Yadav said. Registered in schedule IV of the Wildlife Protection Act, the Red Sand Boa (Eryx johnii) is a threatened specie and its poaching and trafficking invited imprisonment up to three years and Rs.25,000 fine extending to Rs.1 lakh, divisional forest officer (DFO) Gaya, Shashi Kant Kumar said. Found mainly in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the rare snake commands an exceptionally high price often ranging from Rs.1 crore to Rs.25 crore in international black markets, fluctuating based on the snake's weight, size and specific double-headed appearance....