'Monkey business': 4 policemen placed under suspension

CHENNAI: Four policemen, including a sub-inspector, have been placed under suspicion by the Avadi City Police Commissioner pending probe on them allegedly facilitating the smuggling of two exotic monkeys, suspected to be Orangutans.

A departmental inquiry into the incident has been initiated into the incident.

The suspended policemen have been identified as Sub Inspector Ashok and Grade-1 constables, Vallarasu, Mahesh and Krishnamoorthy.

According to police sources, the four policemen were part of a vehicle check team last week near Pammathukulam when they flagged a car, in which they found two wild monkeys with "reddish-orange hair".

The car was supposedly a Karnataka (KA) registered vehicle and the occupants claimed to the policemen that they had the required clearance.

"There seems to have been some kind of a financial transaction involved between the smugglers and the policemen, which is being probed," said a senior police officer with Avadi City Police.

Police sources said that the smugglers paid several lakhs, at least more than Rs 20 lakh to the concerned policemen.

According to a senior police officer, the cops have been placed under suspension to keep them from interfering in the departmental inquiry. "A report on the matter is expected to be submitted within the week after which the next course of action will be decided," said the officer.