Mumbai: The MIDC police apprehended Arvind Arogyaraj, a 31-year-old resident of Bengaluru employed as a delivery boy with an online food ordering and delivery company, and seized two endangered baby gibbons from his possession. Arogyaraj was handed over to the Thane Forest Department for further investigation after authorities discovered that he acted as a courier for a racket involved in the illegal import and sale of such endangered species. He received instructions through a WhatsApp group managed by the racket to collect consignments and deliver them to specified customers.Upon securing a deal, the racket communicated with Arogyaraj via the WhatsApp group, providing consignment details. “Arogyaraj is provided with to and fro air tickets and booking in a hotel in the city from where the consignment is to be collected and handed over to the party. In this case, he was given customer details to collect and deliver in Mumbai. He arrived in Mumbai on September 16 and toured the city before obtaining the baby gibbons consignment on September 18. He was scheduled to deliver it on September 20 when he was apprehended,” stated a police officer from the Sakinaka police station.Acting on a tip-off, DCP (Zone X) Datta Nalawade led the team comprising ACP Pradip Mairale, Senior Inspector Sunil Yadav, Inspector Dipak Girme, Assistant Inspector Raju Chavan, and staff members. They arrested Arogyaraj after he exited his hotel room in Sakinaka on September 20 to deliver the consignment. The investigation continues to determine the racket’s operations and the sources of the endangered species brought into India unlawfully.Arogyaraj stated that he was to receive two payments totaling approximately Rs 50,000 for the gibbons and previously delivered bird species. “Apart from the delivery job, this was his side business to earn extra income,” the police added. Arogyaraj was presented before the Bandra Court on Sunday and remains in the custody of the Thane Forest Department, which is conducting a further probe.
