135 parrots, 4 tortoises seized from smugglers; 1 arrested

GHAZIABAD: Police, jointly with the People for Animals NGO, seized 135 parrots and four tortoises from the clutches of three smugglers near the Kaushambi metro station on Wednesday.
At least 125 birds, stuffed into two cages, were stifled to death, cops said.
While one alleged smuggler, Faizan Khan, was arrested, two others, Taufik Khan and Shakil Khan, managed to escape during the operation.
Police registered an FIR under IPC sections 308 (attempt to murder), 506 (criminal intimidation), 429 (whoever commits mischief by killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless any animal), sections 4 and 25 of Arms Act, and four sections of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, against the three accused men.
Gaurav Gupta from PFA said, “On Wednesday, we received information that one Faizan Khan was coming from Rampur carrying 200 parrots and four tortoises to the Kaushambi metro station. We immediately alerted the Kaushambi police. Our team and cops reached the spot. We saw Faizan stepping out of an auto-rickshaw carrying two cages covered with a white cloth. When I went near him, he tried to attack me with a knife, but the cops arrested him.”
Maneka Gandhi, the founder of PFA, said the gang has been operating in Rampur, which has forested areas, and Bareilly.
“They caught birds to take them to Meerut and Delhi. Most of these smugglers have relatives in Delhi, and they sell these birds at Jama Masjid—the biggest bird market in India—which needs to be closed down,”she said.
Swatantra Kumar Singh, the ACP of Indirapuram, said, “We have arrested one smuggler and are searching for the other two. After receiving an alert from the NGO, our team reached the spot and rescued the parrots and tortoises. However, they found most parrots dead.”