(IN): 3 rare primates travel in pocket for 3 hrs

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3 rare primates travel in pocket for 3 hrs

V Narayan, TNN 24 July 2009, 02:14am

IST

MUMBAI:

A 36-year-old hairdresser from Bandra was arrested on Tuesday at

Mumbai airport for allegedly smuggling three Thick-tailed Bushbabies into India.

However, two of the animals died due to suffocation en route and officials

have handed over the lone surviving primate to the wildlife department.

 

Officials from the customs department's Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) at

Mumbai airport said that the animals were an endangered species and are

valued at Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 4 lakh each in India. The accused, identified as

Thomas Ignatius Fernandes, arrived from Bangkok by a Thai Airways

flight at around 9.55 pm on Tuesday and was intercepted by the AIU sleuths

following a tip-off.

 

When the officials frisked Fernandes at the airport, they found that only one of

the three primates was alive.

 

The other two animals in his possession could not survive the

3-hour-10-minute flight from Bangkok. Fernandes was booked under the Customs

Act, section 135 (evasion of duty). He was later produced before a magistrate

and got bail on Thursday.

 

Additional commissioner of customs (AIU) Baljeet Singh Nunwal told TOI, " The

accused had concealed the seized animals in a cotton pouch tied on his right

thigh with the help of a plastic string, which was knotted with the loop of his

inner pants. However two of the three primates died due to suffocation. "

 

An AIU official said that Fernandes owns a hair-dressing shop in Bandra.

" Fernandes in his statement claimed that a slump in the business had forced

him to go to Bangkok to take part in an advance training programme in

hair-cutting styles. While returning to India he took on the assignment to

bring the primates to Mumbai and was promised Rs 50,000 as commission on

delivery, " said the official.

 

Fernandes, in his statement, also named Firoz Sama, a resident of Hill Road

in Bandra, as the person for whom he did the assignment and who promised to

pay him the commission on delivery. " Both Sama and Fernandes were in Bangkok

last week. Sama returned back to Mumbai a day before Fernandes. " The

official also added that Fernandes had done bit roles in one or two

Bollywood films as a hairstylist.

 

A police officer from Bandra police station said Sama is a record criminal,

wanted by the Khar, Dahanu and several other police stations, and has underworld

links.

 

" During investigation it was found that Sama owns a farmhouse in Dahanu. The

farmhouse could probably be his hub from where he conducts his trade in

endangered species. The people who are usually arrested are only the

carriers who were assigned to bring in the consignments for Sama, " said the

officer.

 

The officer further added that Sama had claimed to be the bodyguard of

Hasina Parkar, the sister of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

 

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