Silchar: A total of 52 Indonesian birds and animals, including black lory, red-and-blue lory, Babirusa swine and hornbills, were rescued from Assam’s Hailakandi district near the Mizoram border on Friday, police said.

Hailakandi additional superintendent of police (ASP) Shamirdapar Baruah said the rescue operation was conducted on Friday morning, and they also arrested two suspected smugglers who revealed during an interrogation that they were taking these exotic creatures to West Bengal for selling.

Police have identified the arrested accused as Moinuddin Ali and Samsul Haque. Both are residents of Assam’s Hojai area.

“Based on specific information, we launched an operation in the Bilaipur area and successfully rescued the creatures. Most of these species are of Indonesian origin, but we are waiting for the experts to confirm,” Baruah said.

According to the forest officials, 42 of the rescued exotic creatures are red-and-blue lory, six black lory, two hornbills and one Babirusa (Indonesian swine).

“Since most of these are natives of Indonesia, we suspect that the consignment came (from Indonesia) through Myanmar and entered India from Mizoram. We are keeping the rescued species at a safe place and they will be sent to Assam Zoo in Guwahati,” said Hailakandi divisional forest officer (DFO) Akhil Dutta.

Dutta told HT that they would be filing a first information report (FIR) against the two arrested accused. He added they suspect an international racket’s involvement in this operation and said that a joint investigation will be launched by the forest department and the police.

“We have registered a suo moto case against them, and after receiving FIR from the forest department, we may include some more sections,” Baruah said.

The experts from the forest department said that exotic birds like the black lory and red-and-blue lory are sold at high prices in some parts of India and Middle Eastern countries. Hornbills are also sold at high prices in the international markets.

“Some sections of the society love keeping these creatures at their houses, which gives them some kind of status in the society. They spend a lot of money on it, which attracts the smugglers to cage the creatures and transport them to illegal markets,” the experts said.

The forest officials said that in the last few years, many caged exotic animals and birds have been rescued from Assam and Mizoram. Experts say that the caged creatures die during the process of smuggling sometimes.

“In most cases, the cages were found in passenger vehicles or goods-carrying trucks. Sometimes, the smugglers kill them while trying to hide them from the police or forest officials,” they said.