Two primates seized from woman passenger at Mumbai airport

Mumbai, Sep 30 (PTI) The Mumbai Customs seized two primates from a woman passenger at the international airport here in the early hours of Tuesday, an official from the forest department said.

The customs team intercepted the passenger who arrived from Bangkok, Thailand and found the animals hidden in a basket inside the luggage, the official said.

The woman passenger is a native of Chennai, he said.

He said the primates were found suffocating inside the basket and were handed over to an expert team of wildlife rescuers and vets from RAWW (Resqink Association for Wildlife Welfare) for treatment.

The animals will be deported under provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, which protects them in Schedule IV of the Act, and they are also listed under CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), the official said. PTI ZA ARU