Canadian held at IGI for carrying crocodile head

Upon questioning, the man told investigators that he had purchased the reptile’s head during a trip through Thailand.

In an unusual bust at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport, customs officials at Terminal 3 intercepted a Canadian national who they realised was “acting suspicious”, only to discover that he was carrying in his luggage the severed head of a crocodile.

The severed crocodile head in custody. (HT Photo)

Upon questioning, the man told investigators that he had purchased the reptile’s head during a trip through Thailand.

Officials said they have detained the man late on Sunday night.

The man had repeatedly insisted that he neither hunted nor killed the animal but merely bought it during his travels, officials who questioned him said on Tuesday. Regardless, transporting such wildlife products requires permits, which he failed to produce.

Airport officials alerted the state forest and wildlife department to identify the specimen.

A team of the forest and wildlife department, headed by the deputy range officer (west) – Rajesh Tandon was called in, which identified the head as one belonging to a crocodile.

“Customs was asked to initiate action as per the Wildlife Protection Act, as crocodiles are protected species under it. Further lab tests will reveal which crocodile species this head belongs to,” said a forest official, part of the inspection.

The department now has custody of the crocodile head, it said, stating in order to travel with wildlife items, special permission is needed which he did not possess.

This incident follows another unusual case in August last year when a 32-year-old Canadian woman was caught at the airport attempting to fly back to Canada with the horns of an unidentified animal. She claimed to have found the horns while trekking in Ladakh and decided to take them home as a souvenir.

In two separate cases, the customs also caught two men in the last 48 hours for trying to smuggle in gold worth ₹75 lakh. In the first case, a man was caught with eight cylindrical gold pieces weighing 600 grams that were found in an electrical iron in his luggage.

In the second case, a man was nabbed with gold in the form of small rings, concealed in metal buttons of a shirt. “The total recovery was around 980 grams,” a customs official said.