Chennai: Customs sleuths at Chennai airport have seized eight exotic animals three of them dead from two flyers who arrived from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The seized animals included four Eastern Grey Gibbons an endangered species protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) two of them dead. The other animals were two marbled polecats, a silvery lutung both vulnerable in conservation status and a dead Sumatran white-bearded palm civet.
The flyers, who reached Chennai on a Malaysian Airlines flight, were intercepted based on information on March 7. The animals were hidden in ventilated boxes in the check-in luggage. Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) officers visited the airport and identified the species with their scientific names. The dead animals were safely incinerated, while the others were fed well before being deported to Malaysia.
Inquiries showed the arrested flyers were part of a smuggling cartel bringing exotic species from abroad to supply the pet trade. Both were produced before the Alandur court and remanded in judicial custody.
While Chennai was once a hub for illegal pet trade due to its proximity to countries such as Malaysia and Thailand, smugglers of late have started bringing in wildlife into the country via different airports due to intensified checking at Chennai. Customs sleuths at Chennai airport recently seized six black-collared starlings from a flyer from Malaysia, after which vigil was tightened, as the sleuths believed the smugglers were testing if Chennai airport remains tough for their trade.