38 smuggled exotic birds recovered in Bengal

Around 38 exotic birds smuggled into India from Bangladesh through the India-Bangladesh border in West Bengal were recovered and one person was arrested, an official said on Friday.

"A consignment containing 38 live exotic birds of foreign origin, being transported through an air cargo from Kolkata to Hyderabad, was intercepted at the city airport on Thursday night and the person who booked the consignment was offloaded from the flight," said an official of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).

The exotic birds, badly cramped into four narrow cages, have been handed over to the Zoological Garden at Alipore in the city for safe custody, said a statement from the agency.

Among the recovered birds, there were 15 Java Sparrows, six Star Finches, eight Goldfinches, six Cockatiels and three Aracaris.

All these birds are of foreign origin. Aracari is mostly found in South America and is a kind of Toucan, while the Finches and Cockatiel are Australian.

The Java Sparrow is Indonesian in origin..

--IANS

bdc/pgh/bg