7 exotic primates smuggled from Myanmar seized in Assam, two held

Guwahati, Nov 15 (IANS) The Assam Police on Tuesday recovered seven black primates, smuggled into the country from Myanmar and being ferried through the state's Hailakandi district, police said.Two persons were arrested in connection with the recovery of the endangered animals.Police said the alert personnel intercepted a truck after it entered into the Hailakandi district from Mizoram and recover the seven primates, which were crammed in four boxes in the vehicle."Immediately after the recovery of the primates, veterinarians checked their health before handing them over to the Forest Department officials," Hailakandi's Superintendent of Police, Nabaneet Mahanta told the media. He said that the wildlife officials immediately could not be able to identify the species of the primates but they said that these are endangered and not Indian.Police arrested two persons, including truck driver Rakesh Debbarma, who hailed from Tripura. The detainees told the police that they were assigned to deliver the primates to someone in Shillong, from where another person supposed to have taken the consignment to an unknown destination. Smuggling of endangered, exotic animals along with drugs, valued at hundreds of crores of rupees, from Myanmar has been rising after the military coup there. The 1,643-km-long unfenced India-Myanmar border witnesses illegal trade and smuggling of drugs, gold, arms and ammunition, and other contraband, as well as Burmese areca nuts and foreign cigarettes.
--IANS sc/vd

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