Pune: Cops seize three exotic parakeets, over 120 other caged birds in a crackdown on illegal sale of avians

Alexandrine parakeets or Alexandrine parrots, locally known as Pahadi Popat or Pahadi Tota and the Budgerigars or shell parakeets, which are commonly known as Bajri lovebirds, are species of birds that are often illegally sold and trafficked.

Officials from the Unit 1 of the Crime Branch of Pune City police had received a tip-off that a person was illegally selling these birds from a place in the Ganesh Peth area. A police team along with the officials from the forest department conducted a raid Tuesday at the house of Rahematulla Shaukatulla Khan (57). From the terrace of the house, the police seized a large number of birds which were caged in very large numbers and being subjected to cruelty.

The police seized three Alexandrine parakeets and over 123 Budgerigars in the raid. Khan was subsequently placed under arrest and has been charged under the Wildlife Protection Act. The birds have been handed over to the transit treatment centre of the RESQ Charitable Trust in Pune.

Additional Commissioner of Police Ramnath Pokale said, “We have launched a probe into the supply and distribution chain of this illegal trade and are also investigating whether there is any organised gang behind it.”