Uzbeks detained after ‘trying to smuggle endangered baby orangutan’ to Kazakhstan
09:41, 16 October 2019
TASHKENT. KAZINFORM - Uzbek customs officers have stopped an attempt to smuggle an orangutan cub to Kazakhstan, Kazinform correspondent reports.
As noted in the department, in the black market an endangered baby orangutan costs USD50,000-USD70,000. Currently, the primate cub has been transferred to the Tashkent zoo.
Besides the orangutan customs officers found marijuana and hashish, in a total of 0.49 grams, and 4 units of the Regapen drug which is included in the list of super potent substances.
Orangutans are an endangered species, victims of poaching and trafficking. Orangutans are a critically endangered species according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature — only about 100,000 remain worldwide.