The Assam Police seized 40 exotic animals on Thursday, September 8, 2022, from two Delhi-registered SUVs travelled from the Mizoram-Myanmar border to Siliguri in North West Bengal.
This was the biggest seizure of smuggled exotic animals in Assam. Animals included joeys or baby chimpanzees, wallabies, tortoises and monkeys.
“The Rangia police intercepted the vehicles on a tip-off and arrested two persons after finding rare animals packed in cages. The two said they had travelled from the Mizoram-Myanmar border and were heading towards Siliguri to deliver the consignment,” Kamrup district superintendent of police Hitesh Chandra Roy told.
The animals have been handed over to the Assam Forest officials for deciding what to do with them. A wildlife official said they may be initially kept at the Guwahati zoo and checked for any health problems.
Assam’s forest officials said despite the civil war, Myanmar is the source of most of the exotic animals smuggling to the northeast and then to the “mainland” and northwest Bengal has become the hub of this illegal trade.
