From IndiaTVNews – amended where appropriate.
New Delhi, Sep 10 : Two rare Slow Loris ‘monkeys ‘were seized by alert CISF guards at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on Sunday from three Dubai nationals who had come from Thailand, and were about to leave for Dubai. This video link highlights the horrors those lorises went through.
(AN: the pygmy loris does not occur in Thailand so this is a double international smuggling that these animals suffered through)
During frisking, one tiny monkey of species pygmy Loris was found from the underwear of one of the passengers. The passenger, in fact, had worn two underwears, and the tiny ‘monkey’ was wrapped in a sock.
Another tiny’ monkey’ of the same species was found abandoned in a dustbin of the terminal while the search was in progress.
We should note that the PRESS has picked this up as funny with headlines like ‘monkey in his pants’ but imagine the suffering these guys went through. How can this horror story turn comedy?
The shift-in-charge of CISF was instructed to call in wildlife experts and Delhi Police was also informed. The officials came at around 5 pm, and all three passengers were booked under various sections of law.
There was a five-hour gap in air transit, and the way the three passengers were walking caught the attention of security guards. They appear to stumble as they walked and all the three were stopped for frisking.
The three passengers admitted that they have been indulging in this smuggling trade earlier too.
The cost of these pygmy lorises is very high in the Middle East and they are used for making sex stimulant medicines and for sorcery
The newspaper quoted a customs official saying the men were fined and sent back to Bangkok with the protected species and eggs they were trying to smuggle. AN this is terrible as they are also illegal to import them into Thailand! But another newspaper says this:
Both the monkeys have been sent to Raja Garden hospital for treatment, where their conditions is said to be critical.
Let’s hope they did not get sent back to Thailand poor guys…
I read the report in your webpage. I was there when these 3 smugglers were caught at Airport. But What i saw then I was under impression that 02 Endangered species of monkeys were called Tasier Monkey from Bohol island of Phillipines.
Our Country need very strict law in Place to punish such culprits.
Thank you for your comment Rohit, and congratulations to your team for catching these culprits!! The tarsier looks a lot like the loris, but it has a long tail, and it weighs less than 100 g. But they are in general very similar. The two that were caught were DEFINITELY pygmy slow loris. This species ranges in Cambodia, Vietnam, China and Laos, but NOT in Thailand, so that is the worry about sending them back to a country where they also do not belong. thank you for your other email to which I have replied and I hope the authorities with which I have put you in touch can help us put these lorises back where they belong