Chennai: Customs officials at the Chennai airport on Sunday arrested a male passenger and seized four tegu lizards and a raccoon smuggled from Malaysia from his possession, officials said. The smuggled animals were deported to Kuala Lumpur on Monday. As per a Customs official, the accused passenger landed at the Chennai airport in a Malaysian Airlines Flight from Malaysia Capital Kuala Lumpur.
During routine checking, a passenger was seen carrying two big plastic baskets under suspicious circumstances. Customs officers stopped the passenger and checked the plastic baskets. The officials found rare exotic animals in the plastic baskets. In one basket, there were a four tegu lizards. The Customs officials searched another basket and found a raccoon in it.
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The Customs officers seized the two rare species of animals and informed the Chennai Wildlife Protection Crime Branch Police about it. The State Wildlife Crime Control Bureau soon arrived at the airport and the accused passenger was subsequently placed under arrest.
He was later released on bail by a local court. The Wildlife Bureau later deported the smuggled animals to Malaysia capital Kuala Lumpur as is the law for handling such animals being imported without any proper permits. Tegu lizard is found only in dense forests of Brazil, South America, and Northern Argentina. These lizards are highly venomous and can grow up to five feet long.
Raccoon is a mammal native to North America. It is considered to be an intelligent animal and is said to remember solution to tasks for at least three years. It can be recalled that in May last year, Customs officials at the Chennai airport detained a passenger after recovering an albino porcupine and a white-lipped red chested tamarin (monkey) from his possession.
