Two stolen Bangladesh lemurs allegedly changed hands for around Rs 48 lakh before being sold to an institution linked to Anant Ambani’s Vantara, Bangladeshi daily Ajker Patrika reported on 8 September, citing the country’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID). The CID has since said it can confirm the animals were trafficked to India but not where they went afterwards, and Vantara has denied holding them.
Ring-tailed lemurs are an endangered species which are not native to India. According to Ajker Patrika, the matter came to notice after photographs of two lemurs at Vantara were posted on social media.
Anant Ambani’s Vantara, a wildlife conservation facility, is spread across a 3,500-acre conservation centre in Gujarat’s Jamnagar. Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally inaugurated the facility in March 2025.
Bangladesh has sought assistance from Interpol to bring the two animals back, Ajker Patrika reported.
How the Gazipur Safari Park lemurs were stolen
According to investigators, three lemurs were stolen from Gazipur Safari Park in the early hours of March 23, 2025.
Their photographs and videos were recorded and shared with prospective buyers in India.
Kolkata-based Bablu and Mumbai-based Shiplu travelled to Bangladesh in May 2025 to facilitate the transaction, investigators said. Delwar and Tapan allegedly coordinated contacts and arrangements on the Bangladeshi side. A deal was struck for one adult and one juvenile lemur for 1.7 million Bangladeshi Taka (approximately Rs 13 lakh), while another juvenile was valued at 300,000 Bangladeshi Taka (Rs 2.32 lakh).
Two of the animals were subsequently smuggled into India through the Darshana border in Chuadanga, according to the confessional statements. They were eventually sold for around Rs 48 lakh to an institution associated with Vantara, Ajker Patrika reported.
Bangladeshi investigators became aware of the animals’ possible whereabouts after photographs of two lemurs at Vantara surfaced on social media. They subsequently identified similarities between the animals in the photographs and those stolen from Gazipur Safari Park.
The original pair of lemurs had entered Bangladesh in August 2018 through Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka after being falsely declared to customs as birds. They were seized and placed at Gazipur Safari Park, where they produced two offspring. The male later died, leaving the female and two juveniles at the park.
CID: trafficked to India, location unconfirmed
“The animals came to the attention of an international network while at the safari park. At one stage, the lemurs were stolen with the assistance of a security guard and smuggled across the border. Those involved have been brought under the law. Most of the accused have given confessional statements,” said Inspector Sunil Das, the investigating officer.
The CID has named eight people as accused in the case. Six have recorded confessional statements under Section 164 of Bangladesh’s Code of Criminal Procedure before a court, while statements from two others, Delwar and Jahir Mia, could not be recorded after they went into hiding following their release on bail.
On September 11, however, CID Special Superintendent of Police (Media) Chufi Ullah told The Business Standard that while interrogations had established the two lemurs were trafficked to India, the agency had not been able to determine where the animals were taken afterwards. He denied that the CID had confirmed the animals were at Vantara, saying there was no way to establish that without scientific verification or the arrest of the entire trafficking network.
Vantara denies link, offers DNA testing
In a statement issued on September 10, Vantara said it was not an accused party in the case and had received no notice or request from any investigating agency. It said it had had no dealings with any of the persons named in the reports.
Vantara said every animal in its care is held under Indian law and under the oversight of the competent authorities, that it maintains provenance records for its ring-tailed lemurs, and that it had placed those records before the relevant authorities. It said it was willing to cooperate with DNA comparison if requested by authorities in either country.
Endangered species with no microchip records
The absence of individual identification records has made it difficult to scientifically establish whether the two lemurs at the Gujarat facility are the same animals stolen from Gazipur.
The lemurs had been at Gazipur Safari Park for more than five years, but the park had not microchipped them or maintained individual identification numbers or DNA profiles.
Authorities are now attempting to obtain a DNA profile of the juvenile lemur that remains in Bangladesh to determine whether it is genetically related to the two animals traced to India.
Ring-tailed lemurs are native to Madagascar and are recognisable by their distinctive black-and-white ringed tails. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists the species as endangered.
The species is also listed under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which generally prohibits international commercial trade except under limited circumstances.
