The Dholai police in an operation at Lailapur seized two rare species of chimpanzees. Police suspected that the chimpanzees are being smuggled from Myanmar or Indonesia.

The smugglers tried to smuggle the chimpanzees through Mizoram while the police recovered it during a search operation.

Meanwhile, the police have started investigation into the smuggling of chimpanzees.

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According to sources, since wildlife are being smuggled through the frontier states of Mizoram and Manipur, there is ample reason to believe they came through neighbouring Myanmar. “Kangaroos are endemic to Australia. Mizoram or Manipur are just the transit routes. Assam is not the destination either. The exotic wildlife is being smuggled somewhere outside the northeast, perhaps for keeping them as pet animals or in some secret zoos,” the source said.

It added, “The difficulty in cracking down on the nexus is that the smuggling is being done through drivers of hired vehicles. They are not the kingpins,” the source added.