Exotic wildlife smuggling linked to pet shops again in Tamil Nadu
CHENNAI: In yet another clear indication of the involvement of pet shops in the trafficking of exotic wildlife from Thailand and Malaysia to India, the Bengaluru Airport Customs last week arrested the owner of a popular pet shop in the city who had arrived there allegedly to receive a Coimbatore-based man who had smuggled some venomous snakes, a cuscus and possum from Thailand.
On May 12, Bengaluru Customs intercepted Jagadeesh Raman (43), a native of Sulur in Coimbatore, after he arrived from Bangkok on the TG-325 Thai Airways flight. His bag was found to contain nine Wagler's pit vipers, a venomous snake found in south-east Asia, a common cuscus and a possum. Customs officials also arrested Yogesh P (36) who allegedly came to collect the trafficked animals.
According to official sources, Yogesh P and his brother Sunil P run Sun's Aqua pet store in JP Nagar in Bengaluru. The store's social media profiles advertise the sale of multiple exotic animals and birds, and it has also been featured on multiple YouTube vlogs as well.
TNIE had earlier reported the link between S Ravikumar, a former Tamil Nadu police constable who was identified as the lynchpin of an international wildlife trafficking gang, and Syed Liyaqath Ulla, a Bengaluru-based man who also runs a pet shop, the Karnataka Aquarium.
Ulla was arrested allegedly for smuggling exotic species in Srikakulam in Andhra Pradesh in November and features in multiple investigations of the Chennai Customs and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) pertaining to exotic species smuggling.
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