With the theft of eight marmosets from the Alipore zoo,illegal trade of exotic animals in West Bengal,Assam,Karnataka and Maharashtra has come to the fore as a huge profit-making business. Tracing the links of Rajesh Saikia alias Raj,arrested for stealing the marmosets,sleuths of the Detective Department of the Kolkata Police got information about around 15 dealers,who traded in various pet animals in open market and were also secretly involved in illegal trade of exotic animals. Following the monkey theft case,we picked up around 15 such animal dealers. Most of them are involved in the illegal trade of exotic animals,including monkeys,birds,snakes and rare turtles, said a senior DD official. Alipore is the main customer base in the city. Many big industrialists flaunt such rarities by keeping exotic animals in their homes, he added. Atanu Raha,state principal chief conservator of wildlife,said: Exotic animals are mostly used as pets. There is a huge market for marmosets. Most of the exotic animals do not come under the Wildlife Protection Act as these are not rare. For trade in exotic animals,exporters and importers must have a permission under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna. The buyer of exotic animals must have the required certificate and all the documents from where he purchased it. There are several places in the country,including Delhi,Mumbai,Kolkata and Pune,where exotic animals are kept as pets, added Raha. Tentacles of SaikiaSaikia,who owns a breeding firm in Durg,has been residing at a rented house in Kudeswar in Durg for the last eight months and was working as a labourer at a local plastic bag manufacturing company. He used to work at a big shop dealing with exotic animals in Mumbai before he joined the racket involved in the illegal trade of exotic animals. He was first arrested in 2007 by the Lonavala police for stealing seven Macaws and a couple of Victorian pigeons from the private park of Mr Yogi in Lonavala. At the same time,another trader in exotic animals Sujai Das alias Bubai,a resident of Amarpally in Dum Dum,purchased a couple of Macaws and Victorian Pigeons worth Rs 2 lakh from a South Indian. Bubai later sold them off to a customer in Bangalore. But after a few months,he was arrested by the Lonavala police and taken to Pune jail where he met Saikia and came to know that those animals were stolen by him, said an official of the DD. Bubai reportedly has a shop at his residence for selling various kinds of pet animals,including birds,monkeys and dogs. After the marmosets were stolen from the zoo,we picked up Bubai on suspicion. We also had information that he was once arrested in an exotic animal trade case two years ago. However,during interrogation nothing significant emerged and we released him, said Jawed Shamim,Joint Commissioner of Kolkata Police. After tracing Bubais cellphone,we learnt that he was always in touch with Saikia,who visited the city 4-5 times before stealing the marmosets from the zoo. Bubai used to work as his counterpart in the city. We are looking for the other links Rajesh has in the city, said a DD official. Sources said besides Rajesh and Bubai,a few more persons are also involved in the monkey theft. According to an official of the criminal branch of Chhattisgarh Police,Saikia,with links in Pune,Mumbai and Northeast,is the part of a bigger racket involved in illegal trade of exotic animals. Guwahati SP P C Saloi said,He has many relatives in Guwahati and may have links with operators in the trade here.
