Guwahati: On the morning of March 29 at the Bilaipur border of Assam, bordering Mizoram, a pickup truck hit the check gate and came to a halt.
Subsequent checking of the vehicle the police found 52 individuals across several species of endangered birds and animals endemic to Indonesia.
By that evening, the news was all over Assamese news channels, albeit with a slight tweak. The accidental discovery of the animals turned into a ‘joint rescue operation’ in the press briefing by the state police and the forest department.
The drift of the news was somewhat like this: in a joint operation, the Assam Police and state forest department officials today (March 29) rescued 52 smuggled Indonesian birds and animals.
The rescued birds and animals were listed as six black lories, 42 red and blue lories, two babirusas (or deer-pigs, a kind of threatened wild pig species found in Indonesia) and two hornbills.
The seizures were made at Hailakandi district, near the border, with cops arresting two smugglers during the operation. Shamirdapar Baruah, Additional Superintendent of Police of the district told this writer that the four-wheeler hit the police barricade and came to halt after trying to flee.
“We managed to catch the vehicle with two persons and rescued the birds. We brought in the forest authorities an initial investigation has identified the species as Indonesian-based,” he said. Baruah also said, “We have ensured the safety of the rescued animals and birds by placing them under the care of the forest department.”
The individuals apprehended in connection with the operation were identified as Moinuddin Ali and Samsul Haque, both hailing from the Hojai area of Assam.
While the red and blue lory is termed ‘endangered’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) due to its habitat loss and is also listed in the Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the black lory features in CITES’ Appendix II.
The Babirusa swine endemic to Indonesia has been placed under the ‘vulnerable’ category by IUCN. These categorisations mean that all the species seized at the Assam-Mizoram border on March 29 were barred from being traded.
The incident underscores the fact that exotic animal smuggling into Northeast India has connections with Indonesia. According to the police statements, the shipment originated in Indonesia, passed through Myanmar, and made its way into India via Mizoram, with West Bengal as its intended final destination.
When this writer contacted Baruah, he disclosed that it was unclear who the ultimate recipients of the animals were. “Even the individuals transporting them did not possess this information. They were simply instructed to deliver the animals to the West Bengal border.”
When asked about the possibility of the smugglers engineering their own capture by hitting the police check-point as part of a larger scheme to be able to pass through the state easily, the senior police officer acknowledged that it couldn’t be ruled out.
Significantly, the March 29 seizure adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting an alarming trend of exotic animals being smuggled into India from Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia, since 2018. The repeated seizures of such animals in border areas of Assam does raise questions as to whether these seizures have been mere coincidences, or indicative of a more complex smuggling issue.
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Assam-based animal activists that this writer spoke to do not rule out “an emerging pattern” where confiscated animals are first noted in local media as intercepted from smugglers, and subsequently passed on to the forest department which then transfer the seized animals to the Assam State Zoo at Guwahati, before they ultimately are claimed by some place or the other offering to take care of those animals. The question among Assam-s animal rights activists is, are these animals also thereby reaching their intended destinations, now with legitimate documentation following a period of stabilisation within the zoo?
Last September, in a notable instance, police in Assam’s Cachar district reported the rescue of at least eight exotic animals, including a crested black macaque and black-backed gorillas – all suspected of having been illegally transported from Myanmar. Among those were two Panamanian white-faced capuchins, a pair of common opossums, four black-backed gorillas, and the crested black macaque, which were then placed under the care of forest department officials.
Furthermore, in April 2023, an operation near the Assam-Mizoram border led to the rescue of seven spider monkeys and two black and white ruffed lemurs from an alleged smuggler’s vehicle.
According to state forest officials, in the past five years, there has been a noticeable shift in the dynamics of the illegal wildlife trade across the north-eastern region of India.
A spider monkey. Photo: Flickr/Tambako The Jaguar (CC BY-ND 2.0 DEED)
Jimmy Borah, a senior worker at Aaranyak, an Assam-based organisation dedicated to combating illegal wildlife trade, observed, “Up until 2018, the predominant direction of this trade was from India to countries such as Myanmar, China, and Vietnam, with very few instances of smuggling into India. However, this trend has reversed in recent years.” He said, “Between 2022 and 2023, we have encountered 20 to 22 instances of exotic animals being smuggled into India, primarily through Moreh in Manipur and Champhai in Mizoram, both bordering Myanmar. Unlike in the past, where items like Pangolin scales were common, we are now seeing a diverse array of wildlife, including kangaroos, reptiles, birds, and primates from Southeast Asia and Latin America being trafficked into the country.”
On the recent seizure at Hailakandi, Borah said, “The modus operandi seems somewhat predictable with such seizures.”
According to Bibhab Talukdar, secretary of Aaranyak, “The recent seizures of exotic animals in Assam and other northeastern states of India have become an on-going affair. After its seizure, where do these seized animals go and under what protocol is a mystery to us. These exotic animals imported illegally doesn’t come through standard health check and quarantine protocols.” He demanded a “thorough investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation about the recent cases of exotic animals arriving in India through the Northeast”.
“The recent seizures by law enforcement agencies in Northeast India, including Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Customs, Police and forest department reveals that the exotic animals are brought illegally from South and South East Asian countries. This needs stringent monitoring by coast guards, customs and other border security agencies,” he told this writer.
On pointing out that once caught, these birds and animals are sent to the Assam State Zoo, Dilip Nath, an RTI activist focusing on environment claimed, “Eventually, all these rescued animals will land up in Jamnagar some way or the other in the name of better care.”
He didn’t explain where in Jamnagar these seizures from Assam “land up”.
Transfer of some elephants from some northeastern states including Assam to an Anant Ambani-run rescue centre, Vantara, in Gujarat’s Jamnagar in the recent months has led environment activists of the region to question the move. Recently, an elephant along with her baby were moved by road all the way from Tripura to Jamnagar which too was questioned by local green activists citing its feasibility and also that there are facilities in the region itself to take care of animals that need care.
On being contacted, Anupam Sarmah, team leader at Brahmaputra Landscape, WWF India, said, “It is indeed a matter of great concern, especially if one is to dwell on how many such consignments may have so far reached the borders of our country.” He said, “It appears that India is no longer just a source country for wildlife and wildlife derivatives smuggled out illegally but is also emerging as one where there is a market for exotic animals.”
He added, “The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau will need more resources to deter the smuggling of wild animals into the country. Other enforcement agencies, officers, and personnel will need to be sensitised about this kind of trade so that they can take appropriate action.”
Sarmah further said that the threats that many of the species seized in northeast India face in the wild in their native countries are well known, and therefore, whatever is possible must be done in India to discourage their illegal trading.
Valid point, but at the moment the key questions springing out of these frequent seizures in Assam remain unanswered – why has the demand for exotic animals gone up so much in the recent past in India, and who is ordering these endangered animals to be smuggled into the country through Assam.
Mrinal Talukdar is a senior journalist based in Guwahati.
