Four Chinese nationals arrested for allegedly collecting more than 250 insects and reptiles from Sri Lanka’s Sinharaja Forest Reserve have been remanded until November 23 by a Magistrate’s Court.
The suspects, comprising three men and a woman, were arrested by Wildlife Department officials while allegedly collecting insects and reptiles native to Sri Lanka in the forest’s buffer zone.
Wildlife officials recovered more than 250 specimens belonging to nearly 40 different species from their possession.
Investigations have revealed that the suspects had visited Sri Lanka previously. Further inquiries are underway to determine the circumstances surrounding the alleged collection of the wildlife specimens.
The Wildlife Department also recalled a similar incident reported a few days earlier, in which a group of foreign nationals was fined more than 10 million Sri Lankan rupees by a court for alleged genetic resource theft in the Babawa Uddarakanda Forest Reserve area.
