Border Security Force (BSF) personnel seized an endangered species of lizard - Tokay Gecko - that was being smuggled into India from Bangladesh through West Bengal, officials said on Sunday.
Acting on an information regarding smuggling of the species of lizard, BSF personnel carried out a special operation on Saturday and seized the wild animal from the bag of a suspect on Bithari-Dattapara road in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district.
However, the suspect and another accomplice jumped from the main road into a low lying area and escaped towards paddy fields.
The seized wild animal has been handed over to District Forest Office for further legal action, the BSF said in a press release.
Geckos are listed in Schedule III of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, as a 'highly endangered animal'. During the ongoing year, BSF South Bengal Frontier has seized three endangered species of lizards 'Tokay Geckos'.
--IANS
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