Mizoram: 19 Exotic Animals Rescued, 4 Persons from Assam Apprehended

The animals which are rescued from their possession include six gibbons, three small monkeys, and ten different species of reptiles
Mizoram: 19 Exotic Animals Rescued, 4 Persons from Assam Apprehended

MIZORAM: A team of Mizoram Police intercepted a Maruti WagonR in Kolasib District on Sunday and rescued 19 exotic wildlife species

Acting on a tipoff from human intelligence the Mizoram Police rescued the animals near the Assam-Mizoram border and arrested four persons for being involved in the illegal transportation of these exotic species. 

The animals which are rescued from their possession include six gibbons, three small monkeys, and ten different species of reptiles, and all of these were rescued while they were being transported to Assam, the officer in charge of Saiphai Police Outpost of Kolasib district said in a statement. 

The four arrested individuals are namely, Birhanuddin Laskar, Kamal Hussain, Abdul Rauf, and Niaz Hussain. They belong to Assam's Karimganj and Cachar districts. 

Earlier this month, Rangiya Police seized around 40 exotic animals bound for West Bengal from Singapore and Thailand via Mizoram and Assam. The police intercepted two vehicles carrying the animals at Rangiya and arrested two persons – Raghu Singh and Kartik – in that connection. 

The two vehicles traveled more than 720 km through three bordering states – Mizoram, Meghalaya, and Assam before being intercepted on the National Highway 31 at Rangiya.

The seized animals included two baby Wallabies, two chimpanzees, 13 young turtles, three adult tortoises, 19 monkeys of different species, two slow loris, and birds of different species. The police seized the animals and handed them over to the Assam State Zoo in Guwahati.

The global illegal trade in wildlife is worth up to US$ 19 billion annually and is the fourth largest illicit market after drugs, counterfeit, and human trafficking.

Notably, A voluntary disclosure scheme came in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a zoonotic disease that is likely to have jumped to humans from an intermediary wildlife host species was announced by the Central Government in June 2020 which urged the Indians to disclose if they possess any exotic or rare species of animals in their homes that they think are displaced from their native region.

It is to be noted that by February 2021, the Ministry of Environment and Forests received disclosure applications from over 32000 Indians who had in their possession exotic birds, turtles, and even chameleons. 

So this illegal exotic market of wildlife species has been thriving for many years now which are mostly brought into India from Southeast Asian nations like Thailand. The Northeastern states are like a gateway for the illegal trafficking of exotic species. 

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