Mumbai:
A businessman was arrested after 34 rare birds—19 of them of exotic species—were seized from him by officials of the Mumbai unit of the directorate of revenue intelligence (DRI).
The accused, Dominic Sequeira (40), who is from Pune was arrested outside the Kolkata airport on Monday with the birds which he had illegally brought from South Africa for sale in different cities across India. Though Sequeira has no past cases against him, officials said he is part of a “larger” syndicate that operates in West Bengal, Pune and in Chennai.
The Mumbai unit of DRI’s Mumbai unit nabbed Sequeira, who has prospective clients in the commercial capital, on a tip-off that he had tried to sell the birds of the exotic species in Mumbai. The officials said Sequeira is into illegal trade of endangered birds.
A raid at his house at Vadgaon Sheri in Pune yielded 19 exotic birds and 15 other birds including love birds of African origin, a sun parakeet, two great Billed parrots of Philippines origin and a white cockatoo from Indonesia. Sources said some of these birds are rare and could fetch several lakhs. “Also, there is a big demand for these birds in the international market,” the official said.
“The seized birds have been handed over to Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park, Katraj in Pune for safe custody,” said an officer. “The value of the exotic birds is very high. These birds appear to have been illegally imported into the country.”
Last month, four people were arrested after DRI officials busted an illegal trade of shark fins from India and seized 8 tonnes of fins. The agency had also seized a huge quantity of star tortoises in August this year.
RESCUED IN A RAID: Cockatoos, lovebirds, Sun parakeets and parrots were seized in Kolkata by the Mumbai unit of DRI from a businessman from Pune
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