Search ops at airport after 1 of 2 smuggled primates escapes
Times of India | 4 November 2025
Kolkata: One of the two rare, critically-endangered primates that were being smuggled into the city from Bangkok escaped from the custody of customs officials at NSCBI Airport early on Monday.
Endemic to eastern Cambodia and southern Vietnam, black-shanked doucs fetch anything between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 30 lakh in the grey market. Officials involved in tracking and preventing animal trafficking warned that buying, selling or keeping the animals as pets is illegal.
An adult black-shanked douc has an average head-body length of 54-65 cm and its tail measures 65-85 cm. The doucs — old-world monkeys — were inside small baskets which were kept in a trolley bag.
One of them escaped when the baskets were opened around 3 am to check whether the animals were alive or dead, the official said.
"Since it is extremely small, locating the douc in the 2.5-million sq ft terminal is a Herculean task. Nine forest dept officers — armed with tranquillising guns, nets and a layout map of the airport — are checking the possible areas where it may be hiding," an airport official said.
Though the black-shanked douc went missing in the international arrival lounge, sources said it could be anywhere on the sprawling airport premises.
as zones are compartmentalised for people, not a primate. While the domestic arrival is next door, the international and domestic departure areas are on the above floor while there are two basements including the registered baggage handling area.
The other douc, which has been seized, has reportedly injured a forest dept staffer when he and his colleagues were trying feed it. The foresters were at the airport to help the customs officials identify the species.
The primates were being smuggled in by a passenger, a resident of Naihati, who had arrived from Bangkok on a Thai Airways flight (TG-313). "He has been detained and the process to arrest him is underway. He is a carrier of goods from India to Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand," said an airport official.
The incident has once again highighted the need for an animal quarantine section in the international arrival zone.
"It is a threat to national bio-security. Who knows if the douc is carrying any disease. If it bites any flyer, who will take the responsibility?" asked an official.
Flyers were, however, unaware that a frantic search was on across the premises for an endangered primate.
Jimlee Sarmah, joint commissioner in the animal quarantine and certification services section in the Union ministry of fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying, said, "A deportation order has been issued against one of the doucs, as was done during recent seizures at the airport."
DFO, wildlife, Kalyan Rai, said customs officials had contacted the ministry following the seizure of the primates. "Our team was sent there after reports that one of the seized doucs had gone missing," he added.
Calls to superintendent, customs, NSCBI Airport, Himangshu Nigam, went unanswered.
In 2000, the black-shanked douc was assessed as ‘Endangered' on IUCN Red List. In 2015, its status was updated to ‘Critically Endangered'.
"The main drivers of the population decline of the species are habitat loss and fragmentation. Other factors such as poaching and wildlife trade have been added as threatening factors for its conservation," said an official.