OUR BUREAU
GUWAHATI/RANGIYA: The Rangiya Police seized around 40 exotic animals 'bound for West Bengal from Singapore and Thailand' via Mizoram and Assam today. The police seized two vehicles carrying the animals at Rangiya and arrested two persons – Raghu Singh and Kartik – in that connection.
The seized animals include two baby Wallabies, two chimpanzees, 13 young turtles and three adult tortoises, 19 monkeys of different species, two slow loris and birds. The police seized the animals and handed them to the Assam State Zoo in Guwahati.
Forest officials said, "Two turtles died in the hazardous transportation. There are some farms of exotic wildlife in Thailand and Singapore. They were taking the animals to West Bengal without following the legal procedure as per the relevant Wildlife Act."
The two vehicles travelled more than 720 km through three bordering states – Mizoram, Meghalaya and Assam — before being intercepted on the National Highway 31 at Rangiya. They packed the exotic animals in several cases. The drivers of the vehicles confessed before the police that they were bound for Siliguri from Mizoram.
Official sources said that there had been such seizures of exotic animals while being illegally transported earlier. "Now we will find out if anyone from Assam has links with the racket to make a safe passage for them. We are gathering information from the mobile phones of the two drivers," a forest official said.
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