Forest officials arrested a pet shop owner in Trivandrum for trying to sell a protected Green Iguana using a fake wildlife certificate. The accused allegedly presented forged documents to pass off the exotic lizard as legally acquired.
Forest officials arrested a 32-year-old man for trying to sell a Green Iguana using a fake registration certificate. The accused, Binoy, ran a pet shop near Thirumala in Trivandrum. A special team from the forest department raided his shop and rescued the exotic animal. Under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 (amended in 2022), the Green Iguana is a protected species. You need strict permission from the Chief Wildlife Warden to keep or sell them. Officials found out that Binoy was using a forged certificate in the Chief Wildlife Warden's name to run his illegal sales.
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Initial investigations suggest a Bengaluru-based gang is actually running this fake certificate racket. A team led by Paruthippally Range Officer V. Vipin Chandran, Deputy Range Officer Anil Kumar, SFO Jijumon, and Beat Forest Officers G.S. Roshni, Kavya S. Nair, and Ramya arrested the accused and produced him in court. Binoy told the officials that he had no idea the certificate was fake. Forest department officials confirmed they will dig deeper into the forgery case and track down everyone involved in this network.
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