COLOMBO, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Officers from the Sri Lanka Coast Guard arrested five people involved in smuggling bird and reptile species aboard a local multi-day fishing trawler, the navy said in a statement on Tuesday.
The navy said the suspects were arrested during an operation in the country's southern waters on July 7.
Naval intelligence has been monitoring the smuggling of birds and reptiles via sea routes for some time, the navy said. The officers found 13 pythons, one monitor lizard, one tortoise and three parrots on board the trawler, the navy said.
The trawler was escorted to Galle Harbor on Monday night, where Department of Wildlife Conservation officers examined the animals and determined that they were non-native to Sri Lanka.
The suspects have been identified as residents of Negombo and Kochchikade and are aged between 34 and 67. They were handed over to the Department of Wildlife Conservation Hikkaduwa for legal action. ■
