DRI seizes 86 live Tokay Geckos in Assam in a crackdown on wildlife trafficking; two arrested

1. At a Glance

• DRI (Ministry of Finance) seized 86 live Tokay Geckos at Mariani, Assam, and two people were apprehended [1].
• The species is listed under Schedule I, Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and CITES Appendix-II, which regulates international trade [1].
• The case shows a revenue-intelligence agency enforcing wildlife law, with demand driven by "perceived medicinal properties" and the exotic-pet trade [1].
• It is a useful example for GS-III (biodiversity, internal security, organised crime) and GS-II (inter-agency coordination).

2. Why in the News

• On 22.09.2026, DRI officers acting on specific intelligence intercepted two persons at Bandar Chalia Gaon Ground, Mariani, Assam [1].
• The 86 live geckos were seized under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The accused and the animals were handed to the Mariani Range Forest office [1].
• The PIB release is dated 23 Sep 2026 [1].
• It follows a broader run of DRI wildlife operations. A PIB release records coordinated seizures across many cities, including Hojai (Assam), covering pangolin scales, gibbons, lizards, tortoises and snakes [2].
• On 7–8 July 2026, DRI Mumbai and CBI-EOB, supported by WCCB, busted an interstate syndicate. Schedule I species recovered included 15 Slow Lorises, 2 Binturongs, 28 Star Tortoises, 6 Egyptian Vultures and 2 Shikra [2].

3. Background & Evolution

• The Tokay Gecko was added to CITES Appendix II in 2019 (the CoP18 decision) [3].
• Only the 2019 timing comes from a whitelisted source. I could not verify other Indian regulatory history within the search limit, so I have left it out.
• INTERPOL–WCO joint operations show that customs and revenue agencies are part of international wildlife-enforcement practice [4].

4. Core Static Facts

Item	Fact
Species	Tokay Gecko, described in the release as an "endangered wildlife species" [1]
Indian law	Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Schedule I [1]
International	CITES Appendix-II (trade regulated, not banned) [1]
Seizing agency	DRI, Ministry of Finance [1]
Quantity	86 live geckos, 2 persons [1]
Custody	Mariani Range Forest office, Assam [1]
Drivers	Perceived medicinal use; exotic pets [1]
IUCN Red List	Listed as Least Concern, per a secondary source that is not whitelisted. Check this against [5] before relying on it.

5. Multi-Dimensional Analysis

Legal

• The WPA, 1972 is the enforcing statute [1].
• Appendix-II listing means trade needs export permits and non-detriment findings. This is general CITES knowledge and is not cited.

Environmental

• Live-animal trafficking drains wild populations. Seized live animals raise rehabilitation and release questions, which are the forest department's job after handover [1].
• CITES Appendix II was extended to the species in 2019 because of trade pressure [3].

Administrative

• DRI intercepts, then hands over to the state forest department. This split is typical of wildlife-crime cases [1].
• Joint operations involve CBI, WCCB, customs airport units, state forest departments and police [2].

Geopolitical / Strategic

• Assam and the north-east lie on trafficking routes toward Southeast Asia and China. This is a general inference and is not sourced.
• INTERPOL–WCO operations show the transnational nature of the trade [4].

Ethical / Governance

• Belief in medicinal value drives demand despite a lack of validated evidence. This is general knowledge and is not cited from the sources.

6. Recent Developments

• 22 Sep 2026: Mariani seizure [1].
• 7–8 Jul 2026: DRI–CBI–WCCB joint operation across Maharashtra and West Bengal [2].
• 2026: DRI coordinated operations across multiple cities, with 440 live animals and about 15 kg of ivory articles seized and 33 persons arrested [2].
• 2025: INTERPOL reported operations seizing nearly 20,000 and about 30,000 live animals [4].

7. Prelims Hooks

• The Tokay Gecko is in Schedule I of the WPA, 1972, per the PIB release [1].
• It is in CITES Appendix-II [1].
• DRI operates under the Ministry of Finance, not MoEFCC [1].
• The seizure site was Mariani, Assam [1].
• 86 geckos and 2 arrests [1].
• Appendix II regulates trade; it does not ban it [1].
• Tokay Gecko was added to CITES Appendix II in 2019 [3].
• WCCB supported the July 2026 joint operation [2].
• Scientific name is Gekko gecko. This is general knowledge and is not cited.

8. Schedule I Punishes Killing, But the Trade Runs on a Different Rule

• The seizure was made under the wrong-looking law, and that is the point to understand
• Schedule I of the WPA, 1972 protects the animal inside India — hunting it, keeping it, selling it [1].
• But this gecko is wanted abroad, not here. The crime is a cross-border trade crime.

• The 2022 amendment created a separate Schedule IV, which is simply the list of species that CITES covers [6].

• CITES trade control works only at notified ports

• Under the amended Act, anyone trading a scheduled specimen must present it for clearance to the Management Authority (the officer who signs CITES permits), or to a customs officer, and only at ports of exit and entry notified by the Central Government [6].
• Mariani is a small town in upper Assam, not a notified port [1].

• So a consignment moving by road towards the border never meets the officer who is supposed to check it. The CITES permit system is simply never triggered.

• This is why a Finance Ministry agency, not a forest officer, made the catch

• DRI works on smuggling intelligence, not on forests [1].
• The gap it filled is the stretch of road between the forest where the animal was caught and the port where CITES would have checked it. Nobody else is watching that stretch.

9. The Hard Part Begins After the Handover

• The law's plan for seized live animals does not fit this case
• For a live specimen of a Schedule IV species seized as an illegal import, the Act says the Management Authority must consult the country of export and send the animal back at that country's cost — or, if it cannot be sent back, get it housed and cared for in a recognised zoo or rescue centre [6].
• Here there is no country of export. The geckos were picked up inside India, probably on the way out [1].

• So the return route does not apply, and everything falls on the second option: a rescue centre.

• A Range Forest office is not a rescue centre

• The 86 live geckos went to the Mariani Range Forest office [1].

• A range office is an administrative and patrolling unit. Holding 86 live reptiles needs feeding, temperature control and disease checks.

• Releasing them back is also not simple

• Nobody knows which forest each animal came from. Geckos from different areas may carry different diseases.

• A wrong release can spread infection into a healthy wild population. That is why the Act prefers a recognised zoo or rescue centre over quick release [6].

• Write this in Mains as the real gap: India has a strong law on catching the trafficker and a weak system for keeping the animal alive afterwards.

10. Why 'Least Concern' Is a Trap in Two Different Ways

• First trap: there may be two tokays, not one
• The IUCN Red List carries a separate entry for Gekko reevesii, Reeves' Tokay Gecko, assessed as Least Concern because it is common and survives well even in disturbed and urban areas [7].

• That is a different species from Gekko gecko. If you quote a "Least Concern" status, first check which of the two the assessment belongs to [5].

• Second trap: Red List and CITES measure different things

• The Red List asks: is this species close to dying out everywhere in the world?
• CITES asks a narrower question: is trade pulling so many animals out of the wild that it needs a permit system?

• A species can be common overall and still be emptied out of one country. That is why CITES Appendix II was extended to the tokay in 2019 even though the species is not rare worldwide [3].

• So the safe exam sentence is: "listed in CITES Appendix-II because of trade pressure" [1], not "endangered". Do not turn the PIB word "endangered" into an IUCN category [1].

11. Demand Is Built on a Medical Claim Nobody Has Proved

• The demand is not old tradition alone — new claims keep appearing
• A TRAFFIC study published through the IUCN library in 2013 studied the tokay gecko trade in South-east Asia, with a case study specifically on novel medicinal claims in peninsular Malaysia [8].

• "Novel" means new claims, invented recently, not inherited from old medicine.

• Why this matters for enforcement

• A new claim can spread fast and push prices up in months. Supply then comes from wild catching, because a gecko takes years to grow and is hard to breed at scale for profit.

• Seizing consignments treats the supply end only. The price signal at the buyer's end stays untouched.

• The PIB release itself names the driver as "perceived medicinal properties" — the word perceived is doing real work there [1]. Use it in an answer to show that demand here rests on belief, not evidence.

12. Counting Seizures Tells You About Officers, Not About Smugglers

• The strongest argument against reading these numbers as success
• DRI operations in 2026 recorded 440 live animals seized and 33 arrests [2]; INTERPOL reported roughly 20,000 and 30,000 live animals seized in 2025 operations [4].
• A rising seizure figure can mean two opposite things: more smuggling, or better policing. From the number alone you cannot tell which.

• Seizures also record only what was caught. The trade that got through leaves no entry anywhere.

• But the honest answer back

• Seizure data is still the only regular, dated, official record of this trade that exists in India.
• Its real value is in the pattern, not the total: the same routes (Assam, Hojai, Mariani), the same species groups (pangolin scales, tortoises, lizards, primates), and the same handover problem each time [1][2].
• So use these figures to show where and how the trade moves. Do not use them to claim the trade is growing or shrinking.

13. Who Must Fix What

• MoEFCC should notify enough recognised rescue centres in the north-east
• The Act already assumes a recognised zoo or rescue centre will receive seized live specimens [6].

• Without one near the seizure point, the legal duty exists on paper while the animals sit in a range office [1].

• The Management Authority should be reachable at the point of seizure, not only at notified ports

• Today the CITES clearance officer sits at notified entry and exit ports [6].

• Most seizures happen far inland, on roads. A standing arrangement to bring that officer into inland cases would let the CITES route be used from day one.

• WCCB should be brought in at the start, not after the network is big

• WCCB came in for the July 2026 interstate syndicate case with DRI and CBI, and that case recovered Slow Lorises, Binturongs, Star Tortoises, Egyptian Vultures and Shikra together [2].
• That is the model: a single small seizure like Mariani should be routed to WCCB immediately so it can be matched with other seizures, instead of being closed as one local case.

14. Anchors for Answers

• Data: 86 live Tokay Geckos and 2 persons at Mariani, Assam, 22 Sep 2026 [1]
• Data: 440 live animals, about 15 kg of ivory articles and 33 arrests in DRI's 2026 coordinated operations [2]
• Data: roughly 20,000 and about 30,000 live animals seized in INTERPOL-reported 2025 operations [4]
• Law: Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2022 — Schedule IV lists CITES-listed specimens; clearance only at notified ports; seized live specimens to be returned to the country of export at its cost or housed in a recognised zoo or rescue centre [6]
• Law: Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, Schedule I; CITES Appendix-II (trade regulated, not banned) [1]
• Report: Caillabet, The trade in tokay geckos Gekko gecko in South-east Asia, TRAFFIC South-east Asia, 2013 — case study on novel medicinal claims in peninsular Malaysia [8]
• Comparison: INTERPOL–WCO joint operations put customs and revenue agencies inside wildlife enforcement, the same model DRI is following here [4]
• Trap: the Red List entry for Reeves' Tokay Gecko, Gekko reevesii, is Least Concern — check which tokay species an assessment refers to before quoting it [7][5]

15. Mains Relevance

• GS-III: conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, organised crime and its links with illegal trade.
• GS-II: government policies and inter-agency coordination.
• Plausible questions:
• Wildlife trafficking is an organised transnational crime. Examine India's enforcement framework and its gaps.
• Discuss the role of non-forest agencies such as DRI in wildlife protection.
• How effective is CITES in regulating trade in species like the Tokay Gecko?

16. Related Topics to Study Next

• CITES Appendices I–III: the mechanics of trade regulation.
• WPA 1972 Schedules and the 2022 Amendment: schedule rationalisation and CITES incorporation.
• WCCB: the statutory wildlife-crime agency.
• INTERPOL–WCO operations: the international enforcement pattern [4].
• IUCN Red List categories: they differ from WPA schedules.
• DRI's mandate: smuggling and revenue intelligence.
• North-east biodiversity hotspots and trafficking routes: relevant to Assam.

17. Common Errors / Trap Areas

• Schedule confusion: the PIB release says Schedule I. A non-whitelisted secondary source claimed Schedule 4, so verify against the Act on indiacode.nic.in [1].
• Ministry: DRI is under Finance, not Environment [1].
• Appendix II vs I: Appendix II regulates trade and Appendix I prohibits commercial trade.
• IUCN vs WPA: "endangered" in the PIB text is not the IUCN category. The IUCN status is Least Concern per a secondary source (see the table above).
• Wording: "Tokay Gecko" versus other geckos, and CITES "Appendix" versus EU "Annex".