India:  Four pairs of African Pygmy Falcons, three red and blue macaws and three electus parrots were seized from a car on Kalyani Expressway on Wednesday.

A team from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) had been waiting at the Muragacha crossing on the expressway to intercept the car that was to deliver the 10 birds to a buyer in Calcutta.

Blue Macaw 

The birds had been smuggled from Bangladesh to North 24-Parganas, an officer of the directorate said.

"There were by three men, including the driver, in the car. They were coming from Chakdah," said the officer. The trio have been arrested and charged under the Customs Act, 1962, and the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

The birds had been packed into plastic bags and crammed into the rear boot of the car along with seven white ducks.

The African Pygmy Falcon, the smallest among birds of prey, is found in Africa. The adults are less than eight inches and mostly feed on large insects, lizards and mice though occasionally they also hunt smaller birds. Electus parrots are mostly found on the Solomon Islands and in New Guinea and Australia.

Birder Subhankar Patra said there is a demand for these birds as pets. "Falconry was once popular in the country, before trading in falcons was banned. Many people have been trying to revive it," a forest official said.

Macaws are native to Central America, Mexico and South America and make excellent pets, Patra said.

The forest department also seized 12 parakeets and a squirrel from a house in Naktala's Sanghati Colony and arrested one man.

Electus parrot

"We had information that protected birds were being traded from the house," said Suchandra Kundu, honorary wildlife warden of Calcutta.

The seized birds included nine rose-ringed parakeet and one Alexandrine parakeet.

Parakeets and squirrel are protected under Schedule IV of the Wildlife Protection Act, officials said. "Trading or keeping them in captivity is prohibited," said Suvendu Sinha, a range officer of the forest department.

Earlier this month, two hoolock gibbons, a pair of palm civets and 42 exotic birds were seized from a car that was to deliver the menagerie to a buyer near Science City.

(Source: The Telegraph)