Pramesh S Jain
Officials of the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) of Kempegowda international airport on Wednesday busted another international wildlife smuggling racket and arrested four people including a woman carrying number of birds, reptiles and mammals concealed in their check in baggage .
This is the second such seizure in the last four days and all the smuggled wildlife is destined for private collectors and zoo keepers .
The accused identified as Manoj Kumar Rengaraj, Jayaraman Ramaraj,Anandan Kumaravel and Khamar Taj were intercepted as soon as they landed from Bangkok to KIAL on Wedneday.
While Manoj Kumar and Jayaraman were from Trichi in Tamilnadu,Anandan is from JP Nagar Bengaluru and Khamar Taj is from Devanahalli,the official said .
The accused are working as mules for the racket and get ₹ 15,000 to ₹ 20,000 per trip along with free food and accommodation, the official said .
The accused were given the check in baggage with snacks and toys and few cloths with a cage of exotic animal and reptiles concealed in the baggage .
They were asked to handover the baggage to the people waiting outside the airport after getting a confirmation in the form of code word, the official added .
The rescued wildlife includes Red Whiskered Bulbul, King Bird-of-Paradise, Sulawesi Myna, Albino Pigmy Dormouse, Black-and-Red Broadbill,three lguanas including two green and one red coloured and four Indochinese box turtle .
It may be recalled that on Monday Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) officials of the Customs Department at Kempegowda International Airport arrested a 24-year-old person smuggling four siamangs and two Northern pig-tailed macaques from Malaysia was seized.
