At least eight rare animals, including a black macaque and gorillas, were rescued in Assam's Cachar district on Monday, police sources have said.
The seizures were made after police intercepted a vehicle along the Assam-Mizoram border as the police busted an illegal animal trafficking racket.
The rescued animals, suspected to be smuggled from Myanmar- include two Panamanian white-faced capuchins (a rare species of monkey), two common opossums, four black gorillas, and the black macaque- have been handed to the forest department officials.
Police have arrested five people in connection with the case.
An operation was launched and the animals were recovered from a vehicle coming from Mizoram at the Lailapur Gate along the Assam-Mizoram border on Sunday evening, Cacha Superintendent of Police Numal Mahatta told news agency PTI.
"We suspect that the exotic animals were smuggled from Myanmar and the consignment was going to some other state of India," he said.
The rescued animals were later shifted to the Assam State Zoo in Guwahati, the police sources said.
According to police sources, acting on a tip-off, the officials launched a special operation to crack down on the illegal transportation of rare animals in the border areas.
Most of the rescued animals are African natives and it is suspected that these were smuggled through different countries before the consignment reached Assam, Cachar Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Vijay Palve told PTI.
The animals have been handed over to the forest department officials for taking further action, sources in the police said.
In April this year, seven spider monkeys and two black and white ruffed lemurs were rescued from a vehicle near the Assam-Mizoram border.
These wildlife species are usually smuggled from Myanmar or Indonesia and the consignments enter India through Mizoram, he said.
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