Aizawl : A male baby Orangutan – listed endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature – was by Customs officials along the Aizawl-Champhai road in Mizoram on Wednesday, customs officials said on Thursday morning.
A driver of the vehicle which was carrying the Orangutan has been arrested and is being interrogated, customs officials said.
Acting on a tip-off, officers of DPF, Aizawl
intercepted a vehicle at Seling village under Aizawl district rescued the endangered wildlife animal which was was concealed in the vehicle with agricultural produce, a customs official told The NorthEast Journal. He said the vehicle bearing Mizoram registration number MZ-04 -5790 carrying the exotic wildlife has been seized, while the Orangutan has been handed over to the wildlife authorities in Mizoram.
The exotic species was smuggled from Myanmar.
Orangutan are natives to Indonesia and Malaysia, and are protected by the IUCN Red List, Appendix I to CITES & Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
Mizoram shares a 510-km long porous border with the neighbouring country.
