Exotic wildlife trafficking racket busted in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: The Karnataka CID forest cell Thursday arrested an individual and detained six others for running an illegal exotic wildlife trafficking racket in Kumaraswamy Layout, south Bengaluru. Investigators searched an apartment and recovered ball pythons, lizards and turtles, alongside airport-tagged suitcases and traces of ganja.Among the accused are Raj Kamal, Hrithik RV and Girish Nag of Devanahalli, who frequently travelled to exotic pet trade hubs like Thailand and Malaysia. They are allegedly linked to “@Zoo2You,” an Instagram handle promoting wildlife education programmes that displayed exotic animals at schools and public events.