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Russian bio-pirates nabbed with rare animals haul fined Rs 8.5m
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The Russians convicted of biopiracy
Three Russians convicted of attempting to smuggle hundreds of endangered plants in 2020 from a number of national parks and 529 species of animals from the National Wildlife Sanctuary in Horton Plains, have been fined a record Rs 8.5 million by a court in Nuwara Eliya in a large-scale biopiracy case.
Russians Ignatenko Alexander, Artem Ryabov, and Nikolai Kilafyan were fined by the Nuwara Eliya Magistrate’s Court after a two-year trial.
They had attempted to smuggle plants and animals belonging to 23 animal species from several national parks, including Horton Plains.
Not all animal species could be rescued. Many were dead.
Magistrate G.G.P Jayasinghe fined the three convicts a combined Rs. 8.65 million.
This smuggling attempt is considered to be the largest such incident recorded in the history of Wildlife Department of Sri Lanka.
The court found the accused guilty of 102 out of 309 charges and imposed a fine Rs 2.88 million on each defendant. The court further ordered that convicts be sentenced to three months’ imprisonment for each charge if the fines are not paid. The other charges against them were dropped.
The Russians had gathered more than 500 endemic animal species in Jaffna, Habarana, Yala, Bundala and Ginigathhena.
They had arrived in Sri Lanka on February 8 and 9, 2020, and spent two days in Colombo. They then had gone to the Colombo office of the Department of Motor Vehicles and obtained an International Driver’s License with which they rented a vehicle.
In Nuwara Eliya they had stayed at a private hotel in Pattipola. Here, they had packed the animal and plant species captured from various parts of the island in plastic boxes to be transported.
On February 26, 2020 they had settled all dues at the hotel and had said they will be heading to Colombo. Instead they had gone to Horton Plains to illegally collect endemic species from the Horton Plains National Park. They had entered the park around 9:50am that day had captured the animals near the Horton Plains Thotupola Kanda and had used a chemical. They then had gone towards the World’s End site around noon that day, wildlife officials said.
The Russian suspects were detected near the Y junction on the way to World’s End, by the wildlife officials who had tracked them as they had not returned after the park closing time at 6:00 pm. Wildlife officers found seven beetles in the trouser pockets of a suspect.
Wildlife officers also had checked a vehicle in the parking lot of Horton Plains National Park and found butterflies, lizards, and beetles. They found a 184 animals in the vehicle.
Park warden, Pradeep Kumara and the other senior officers investigated the three Russian suspects. They then produced the Russians before the Nuwara Eliya Magistrate’s Court on February 26, 2020.
Park officers also searched the hotel room in Pattipola. There they seized containers of various animals along with the equipment used to catch them.
According to the facts presented in court on March 3, 2020, the Horton Plains National Park, warden, Mr Kumara, produced in court a list of animals such as butterflies, lizards, beetles, ‘kankunda’ (millipedes), snakes, house lizards, snails, and centipedes.
He had said that the captured animals should be released to their natural habitat immediately and should be taken to the National Museum for identification before release. Also, he had asked that the species of plants be handed over to the Peradeniya Botanical Gardens and a report be sought. He had asked the court also to seek a report from the Government Analyst about the chemical used to capture the animals.
Mr Kumara and the team on the instructions of N G Wickramatilaka, the director of wildlife, Central Province, brought the animals to the Colombo National Museum on March 4, 2020 for release. After submitting a report under the instructions of Prof. Deepthi Wickramasinghe, of the faculty of zoology of the University of Colombo, and Dr Sampath Tennakoon, the habitats of these animals were identified. They were released in Dambulla, Sigiriya, Kithulgala, Ginigathhena, Yala and Bundala with the assistance of wildlife officers.
The suspects had secured visas to stay in Sri Lanka from February 08, March 11, 2020, but had made arrangements to leave before February 27. They had previously been reported to have plundered species in countries including India and Uganda. It is reported that these Russian nationals are well versed in zoology.
Mr Kumara; T. P. Dayaratne, deputy warden; P.M. T Panawalage, wildlife assistant; wildlife ranger K.G.P Priyadarshana; volunteer assistant K.G.T Udayakumara; driver S. Sri Chandralal were also involved in bringing the suspects into the arms of the law.
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