Mizoram: Forest division & AR retrieve 31 exotic animals in Champhai

Aizawl: Officials from the Champhai Forest Division and Assam Rifles personnel rescued 31 exotic animals, during a joint operation at Zokhawthar village in East Mizoram's Champhai district near the Myanmar border on Wednesday, an official said on Thursday."

Regarding the cases the authority arrested 6 persons, including a Myanmar national for trafficking the exotics animals from Myanmar, worth around Rs. 1.3 crore in the international market, the official said.

The rescued wildlife animals included  27 African spurred tortoises, 3 Patagonian maras and a Albino Burmese python, the official confirmed.

Moreover, the authority sent the six accused to a district jail in Champhai as per the district judicial magistrate's order.

Earlier on March 26, officials of Khawzawl district wildlife division arrested a poacher and sent him to Champhai district jail on a magistrate order for allegedly shooting a barking deer and a rufous throated partridge in the forest, the official added.