CHENNAI: Customs officials arrested a Bengaluru resident at the Chennai International Airport on Friday night for allegedly trafficking around 400 baby iguanas from Bangkok.
In a first for the agency, the officials arrested the passenger under a non-bailable section of the amended Wildlife Protection Act (WLPA) for an exotic species seizure, as iguanas are categorised under Schedule IV, Appendix 1 of the Act, sources said.
Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) sources said the 35-year-old suspect disembarked from a Thai Airways flight around 11.50 pm with around the iguanas concealed in two boxes inside his checked-in baggage. During screening, they were found to have 230 green iguanas, 110 orange ones, seven yellow ones, and 55 blue ones. Nearly 70 of them had died, sources added. The live iguanas were sent back to Thailand as per the provisions of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES).
The iguanas, herbivorous reptiles that are extremely popular as pets, are sold through social media, sources said. One of the important reasons for their high demand is their size, which makes it easy for apartment dwellers to keep them as pets and also take them along during travel. WCCB sources said the iguanas fall under appendices I and II of the CITES and Schedule IV of the WLPA, 1972.
Appendix I of CITES is for species threatened with extinction and their trade is permitted only in exceptional circumstances. Appendix II includes species that are not necessarily threatened with extinction, but their trade must be controlled to avoid using them in situations that would be incompatible with their survival. The illegal trade of animals falling under Appendix I provides a maximum punishment of up to seven years of imprisonment, sources said.
The customs officials in Chennai have so far thwarted 18 such instances of exotic species being trafficked during the financial year 2023-2024, including exotic snakes, monkeys of various kinds, reptiles and spiders. Sources said the officials arrest all those trafficking exotic species, but it is usually under the Customs Act and flouting of Director General of Foreign Trade regulations and non availability of animal quarantine NOC, and in some cases the WLPA.
But in this case, they were able to make a non-bailable arrest under the parent WLPA. The local Alandur court upheld the remand of the passenger. Further probe would be held to find if the trafficking was a part of a larger network, sources added.