Customs officials seize live animals from passengers at Kochi airport
Cochin International Airport
Ltd (Cial) on Monday seized six live animals from two passengers who arrived on a Thai Airways flight from Bangkok. The officials seized three common marmosets, two white-lipped tamarins and one hyacinth macaw.
According to the EXIM policy, known as the foreign trade policy, the import of live animals listed under Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is strictly regulated. Commercial trade of appendix 1 or schedule 4 of the Protection Act is prohibited.
The passengers and the live animals were handed over to forest officials in Kalady. According to sources, the intercepted passengers are Jobson Joy and Aryamol, a couple from Pathanamthitta. When Cial officials scanned the baggage, they noticed a suspicious image, prompting them to intercept the passengers and check the bag.
Following instructions from a veterinary doctor, the animals were transported to the zoological park at Thrissur for further care. The couple will be produced at Perumbavoor judicial first class magistrate court on Tuesday.
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