Editorial
Seizure of birds and animals
Meaningful action is called for
The seizure of as many as 160 rare birds and ten monkeys at Shahjalal International Airport speaks of the unending predatory instincts of certain elements not only in Bangladesh but also elsewhere in the world. In the past, there have been instances of rare animals and birds being smuggled out of Bangladesh, together with artifacts of immense historical value. To what extent the perpetrators of such mischief have been brought to justice is something we have not known. And this failure on the part of the authorities to keep people informed of the steps taken to punish such elements remains a chronic problem. We are regularly informed of poachers and smugglers of birds and animals being nabbed by the law enforcers. What happens after that is anyone's guess.
Coming back to the issue at hand, these monkeys and birds, we have been informed, were illegally imported from South Africa. There are now quite a few questions which arise from the incident. In the first place, if the import of such creatures is unlawful, on what authority did the individual in whose name the consignment arrived in Dhaka had them brought to Bangladesh? That leads to another question: when the monkeys and the birds were being taken out of South Africa, did the Pretoria authorities not notice the happening or did the Bangladeshi importer find a way out of his problems at the port of embarkation? And then comes the all-important question of the corrupt doings at Shahjalal Airport itself. These monkeys and birds were being handled by a clearing and forwarding agent at the airport, a fact which only reminds us of the many earlier instances of illegal activity on the part of personnel at the airport.
For the law enforcers, it is now imperative that the man in whose name the consignment arrived be apprehended. Furthermore, such acts are rarely those of single individuals. There is always behind them an organized gang or racket. It is from such a perspective that the authorities must go into action. That as well as an inquiry into the doings of corrupt individuals and groups at the airport might give us a clue to what has lately been happening.
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