Tarun Karthick
Sri Vijaya Puram, 11 February 2025
Nicobar Times was the first to report on 9th February 2025 that several infant monkeys had been rescued from the luggage of two passengers at Sri Vijaya Puram’s Veer Savarkar International (VSI) Airport. The rescue was carried out by Customs officials on 8th February from the luggage of two passengers who arrived from Kuala Lumpur on an AirAsia flight.
We had also reported that the rescued infant monkeys were handed over to the Department of Environment and Forest by the Customs officials for further action.
Now, the Department of Environment and Forest of the Andaman and Nicobar Administration, through a press release published in The Daily Telegrams, has confirmed that two Singapore nationals have been arrested in connection with the case.
Among the eight rescued infant monkeys, four are Agile Gibbons and four are Pig-Tailed Macaques. The two arrested individuals have been charged with violating the Endangered Species Act, 1973, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and Schedule IV of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
The rescued monkeys have been transferred to the Animal Quarantine Facility at Biological Park, Chidiyatapu.