Like most of the earlier illegal consignments, these were moved from the Mizoram-Myanmar border.
Like most of the earlier illegal consignments, these were moved from the Mizoram-Myanmar border.
, Assam Police on Thursday, September 8, 2022 40. confiscated exotic animals From two SUVs registered in Delhi that traveled through the Mizoram-Myanmar border and bound for Siliguri in northern West Bengal.
This was the biggest seizure of exotic animals smuggled into Assam. Animals included joey or baby wallabies, chimpanzees, monkeys and turtles.
“The Rangiya police, following a tip-off, stopped the vehicles and detained two persons after finding rare animals packed in cages. Both said that they traveled through the Mizoram-Myanmar border and were on their way to Siliguri to deliver the consignment,” said Kamrup district superintendent of police Hitesh Chandra Roy. Hindu,
Rangiya is about 55 km north-west of Guwahati. The two vehicles had traveled at least 720 km through three states – Mizoram, Meghalaya and Assam – before stopping at National Highway 31.
Mr Roy said the two persons caught with exotic animals are being questioned for information about others involved in the animal-smuggling trade.
The animals have been handed over to the Assam forest authorities to decide what to do with them. A wildlife official said they may have been initially kept in Zoo in Guwahati and checked for any health problems.
North Bengal Hub?
Assam forest officials said Myanmar, despite the civil war, has been the source of most of the exotic animals smuggled into the Northeast and then North West Bengal has become the epicenter of this illegal trade.
Exotic animals have so far been transported within India through two routes. One is from Champhai in Mizoram bordering Myanmar and the other is from Moreh in Manipur bordering Myanmar. Animals brought from other routes touch Dimapur in Nagaland.
Most of the people arrested in Assam while transporting such animals said they were paid to deliver their consignments to West Bengal, especially the Alipurduar-Cooch Behar-Jalpaiguri-Siliguri belt.
This became more apparent when forest officials in West Bengal found four kangaroos in Jalpaiguri’s Gajoldoba area in April. Two more kangaroos – one dead, the other injured – were found in the Dabgram forest range.
West Bengal forest officials had also rescued four monkeys smuggled from Indonesia at that time in a bus going to Siliguri.
In July 2020, Assam forest officials seized a red kangaroo, six hyacinth macaw, two capuchin monkeys from South Africa and three Aldabra giant tortoises from a truck near the state’s border with Mizoram.
In March, Assam police, conducting routine checks in Golaghat district, found macaws, silver marmosets and golden-headed tamarinds – all exotic animals from the Brazilian Amazon. Officials said these animals were smuggled through Moreh.
“It seems that the craze of keeping exotic animals as pets is fueling the animal smuggling racket. But the biggest concern is that these animals, unlike animals exchanged by zoos, come without health check-ups, thus posing a risk of spreading diseases,” said Bibhab Talukdar of the Assam-based green group Aranyak.