BIA Customs thwart attempt to smuggle chameleons

Customs officers monitoring the Courier Services at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), found 32 dangerous reptiles, Customs Spokesman and Deputy Director, Sunil Jayaratne said.

He said the reptile species was an intermediary breed of Geckoes and Chameleons found in Sri Lanka.

“These reptiles packed into four white bags were found in a shipment declared as computer CPUs,” Mr. Jayaratne said.

He said the shipment had arrived from Australia via Singapore and the Customs declaration form was addressed to a person in Kalutara, but it was found to be a fake.

"We have sent our officers to locate the owner of the reptiles," Mr Jayaratne said and added that quarantine officers had recommended that the reptiles be deported as soon as possible.

“This is the first time that this kind of reptiles had been smuggled into the country. Customs officers monitoring courier services had done a great job. With no prior experience the officers had a problem identifying the species. Sending them back is not the solution, but there should be a proper method to identify such animals by relevant authorities attached to the Customs Department. The Customs Officers do not know everything and as such, they only detect unauthorized and non-related things coming into the country,” Mr. Jayaratne said.

The detection was made by Customs Superintendents Vipula Fernando and S. Ranasinghe.

Investigations were carried out by the BIA Directorate of Revenue and Services and Bio-Diversity Control Unit of Customs, as a joint programme under the supervision of Customs Assistant Superintendents Jayalal Fernando, Superintendent and Buddhika Prabhath. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)