Two Wildlife Traffickers Arrested, 7 Exotic Animals Rescued

SHILLONG, Aug 8: Two wildlife traffickers have been arrested in Meghalaya’s West Jaintia Hills district and seven highly endangered exotic wildlife species enroute to Guwahati rescued, police said on Sunday.
Acting on inputs, anti-trafficking sleuths detained a Guwahati bound tourist taxi from Mizoram on Friday night and arrested the two wildlife traffickers, superintendent of police, Bikram D Marak told PTI.
On thorough searching of the vehicle, police found six boxes containing seven endangered exotic wildlife species that fall under the category of Schedule – I & II of Wild Life Protection Act 1972, the SP said.
Among those wildlife species rescued were two hoolock gibbons, a great Indian hornbill, two grey langurs, one phayre’s leaf monkey and an otter, he said.
The rescued wildlife species were handed over to the range forest officer in the district for their safe custody and action as per law, the SP said.
The police have also registered a case under Schedule 1 and 2 of the Wild Life Protection Act & International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red list, he said.
The SP also said that police have launched a thorough investigation in close coordination with the Mizoram Police to ascertain how the animals were trafficked from Mizoram. (PTI)